Seasonal pruning is an excellent way to help keep shrubs beautiful and healthy! Pruning ornamental shrubs and vines is the way to improve plant health and vigor, control size and shape, to increase flower production, as well as remove overcrowded, damaged stems and branches. Pruning should be part of the regular maintenance and upkeep of your garden, whether your shrubs bloom in spring or summer.
Along with learning how to prune, gardeners should know the best time to prune the flowering shrubs in your landscape. Knowing when to prune flowering shrubs is especially important because if you prune your shrubs at the wrong time of year, you may inadvertently remove the flower buds for that season.
March is the right time to prune many of the shrubs and climbers in your landscape. Pruning these flowering shrubs and vines isn’t difficult if you understand that getting the most from your flowering shrubs depends on three things: using the right pruning tools, knowing when to prune and knowing how to prune.
For pruning shrubs, it's important to have the right tools to make clean cuts and promote healthy growth. This includes hand pruners, loppers which providing extra leverage for cutting thicker branches, and gloves.
When it comes to knowing when to prune, flowering shrubs can be divided into two types: spring blooming and summer blooming. Spring blooming shrubs such as forsythia, lilac, ninebark and weigela already have this spring's flower buds in place.
They're said to bloom on "old wood" because soon after flowering last season, these types of shrubs begin to set the buds for this season's blooms. If you prune these shrubs now, you'll remove most of the flower buds. The time to prune ornamental shrubs that flower in spring and early summer, is within a month after they stop blooming.
Summer flowering shrubs such as butterfly bush, blue mist spirea, potentilla and hardy hibiscus can be pruned now, because they bloom on this year's growth or "new wood".
Summer flowering hardy hibiscus (Rose mallow) and butterfly bushes (Buddleia) do best if you cut them hard to the ground now. You can use a lopper to cut the canes. Don't worry! They'll grow back and bloom vigorously.
For Blue Mist Spirea (Caryopteris) prune the stems back to about 4” to 6” from the ground. This may seem drastic, but this will encourage a better bloom.
For Potentilla, remove up to about one-third of the plant’s growth, thin out the center for better air circulation, and clean up any dead or diseased wood.
Many gardeners prefer to prune Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) after it has finished blooming in the summer. This is because Rose of Sharon often produces blooms on the current season’s growth (or, depending on the variety, on last year’s wood). Pruning soon after flowering helps avoid removing potential flower buds.
If you’re uncertain about the blooming habits of any of the shrubs and vines in your landscape, it’s best to not prune until you’ve had time to observe each plant’s growth and bloom cycle. Then you can decide the right time to prune.
The exception would be any broken, dead or diseased branches. These conditions call for pruning as soon as they occur.
This is also the time to prune Group 3 Clematis. These varieties bloom on new wood in late June into August. They should be cut back to a living bud at about 24" from the ground in spring just as the buds begin to swell. If you don't prune, the flowers will tend to be only up at the top of the plant and the bare stems will be unattractive below. When to prune Clematis can be tricky depending on the bloom time and variety. If you’re not sure, don’t prune.
After you're done pruning, give your ornamental shrubs a good drink.
Wait another month to start feeding your shrubs. When you do, select a fertilizer such as ferti•lome Gardener’s Special 11-15-11.
Pruning shrubs can be somewhat intimidating. If you have questions about pruning in general or how to prune a particular shrub, stop by our Diagnostic Center. We'll help you figure out what to do. Learning how and when to prune will keep your shrubs healthy and blooming for many seasons.
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