Do you know when to prune plants in your yard? To keep your plants healthy, you need to break out the sheers and mercilessly cut back the dead branches.
Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about trimming plants and pruning bushes and trees.
Pruning Trees
When pruning trees, you need to begin by looking at the overall landscape design purpose. Do you want big, bushy trees or more sculpted trees? What works best with your design.
Wait until late winter to take a trimmer to your trees. Trimming trees at this time gives them time to heal quickly before new shoots begin to grow. This late trim also protects trees from exposure to disease.
When you cut your trees too early in the winter, they take longer to heal. Here is a general guide on trimming fruit and oak trees.
- Fruit Trees: trim the older and dead branches after the first killing frost to prevent new growth from happening in the fall
- Oak Trees: wait to trim oak trees until October to prevent beetles from carrying a fungal disease into your tree and killing it
In general, if you wait until late winter to trim your trees, you'll protect them from bugs and give them plenty of time to heal.
Pruning Perennials
As part of your fall clean-up, prune back your perennial flowers and flowering bushes. When you cut back the growth, you prevent plant diseases like powdery mildew. You also keep insects away by taking away their food supply.
When fall leaves begin to float to your lawn, focus on trimming back bellflowers, salvia, daylilies, black-eyed Susan's, and hydrangeas. If your hydrangeas bloom on old wood, save their pruning until late winter.
If you like your ornamental grasses, leave those alone to make your winter landscape more interesting. You can also keep the dried berries on your shrubs to feed the winter birds.
Pruning Shrubs
Sumacs, honeysuckles, smokebush, dogwoods, and burning bush all do best when you trim them in late winter. This allows them to grow thick and voluminous blooms in season.
When you prune your shrubs, cut the shrubs back at a 45-degree angle with sharp shears. This angle promotes fast healing.
Lilacs, magnolias, azaleas: prune these in spring or early summer after they flower
- Needle-bearing evergreens: prune your pyramidal cedar,s yew, and junipers in early spring, focusing on removing yellow tips
- Broadleaf evergreens: prune your holly, boxwood, and rhododendrons after they've finished flowering
- When you prune lilacs, you can do so somewhat mercilessly, taking up to two-thirds of the shrub. Keep at least a third of the shrub to ensure its survival.
Be Smart About When to Prune Plants
As you look at your calendar, mark down the best days for when to prune plants. As you can see, you'll be pruning and trimming year-round, depending on your plants.
Are you in need of some new landscaping or some landscaping maintenance? We can help set up a schedule for all your bushes, plants, and trees so you don't have to keep track of the best time to prune your plants.
Contact us today, and let us help you turn your lawn and yard into a beautiful oasis.
