Gardening with Gary

Gardening Advice from an Expert

Late Winter Cutting of Trees and Shrubs

This is a busy time of year in the garden. For those of you who maintain trees and shrubs, late winter is the best time for pruning many of them. But how do you know what to cut, and what to leave alone? For flowering trees and shrubs, the general rule of thumb is, if it blooms before mid-June, prune it directly after flowering. If it flowers after mid-June, prune it in late winter/early spring, before flower buds are visible.

Spring blooming trees and shrubs, such as apples, cherries, plums, forsythia, etc., develop their flower buds during the previous summer and fall. Pruning these plants in late winter would remove flower buds, and lessen the show, come spring. Therefore, prune them after flowering ceases, but before flower buds begin to develop for next year. If you examine the stems carefully, you will be able to determine if buds have begun developing in the leaf axils (where a leaf attaches to a stem). If buds are evident, your window of opportunity has closed. The moral of this story is to not put off your spring pruning chores too long. If a plant is really overgrown and pruning needs to be done, cut it back anytime before late summer (August). You will sacrifice flowering next spring.