Gardening with Gary




Gardening Advice from an Expert

Pruning

Pruning Fruit and Other Flowering Trees:

Late winter is a good time to prune most fruit trees. Pruning should be accomplished after severe winter weather has passed, but before the tree has bloomed.

Prune your oldest trees first. With clean, sharp clippers, go in and remove any weak growth, dead stems, and cut back to healthy-looking buds. From these will come spring's first growth and you want the best to sprout out.

Trees under five years old are more subject to cold damage, so prune them later (closer to when the tree blooms). Make sure all threat of frost is past, so that when the new growth pops out after pruning it will not succumb to the cold.

But, do not wait too long, since then you will be pruning off the flower buds!

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.

Q. When can I prune the nonproductive branches from my maple tree?

A. Now [mid-May] is a good time to prune your maples of all weak or spindly poor growth to allow the other branches more light and nutrients from the roots. In fact, any bush or tree which is not blooming or about to bloom can be pruned.

Q. When can I prune my azaleas? I appreciate any advice you can give me.

A. Now [mid-May] is the time to prune azaleas if all the flowers are browned and falling off. Cut back to healthy buds, as that is where the new vegetative growth will arise. The bushes will have all summer to produce healthy growth after flowering and in the fall will set buds, so never prune them past August.

Cutting Back Spring Flowering Plants:

Joan writes~ When is the best time to cut back lilacs, forsythia and rhododendron? All of these are getting straggly with old age. Also, the rhody's leaves are getting rust colored around the edges. I leaf-fed it once last year.

A. These spring flowering plants must not be cut back in the early spring since you would be removing the flower buds formed late last year. Allow all of these shrubs to flower, and then do your pruning. The amount or severity will depend upon how much growth is sickly and straggly. Cut back to healthy strong stems and shape into a nice ball or pyramid.

Prune a plant to renew its appearance, encourage a new growth and flowering. Your perennials are cut back later in the growing season to renew the plants appearance or encourage new growth and flowering. As a general rule, plants which are cut back after they have flowered have regrowth that remains shorter than the normal mature height of the plant.

Cutting back perennials can control the flowering time and height of the plant. The best tool to use is hedge shears. Plants should be well watered, and the soil around them should be aerated. When perennials are pruned back for maintenance or aesthetic reasons, they should be pruned after flowering only and as soon thereafter as practical. The quick pruning will give these shrubs all summer to produce good foliage and then next year's flowers in the fall.

Connie writes~
After I prune a diseased plant, I feel that I should sterilize the pruners to prevent spreading the contamination. What is the best way to do this?

A. By all means, the pruners should be sterilized after such use and after any use at all, healthy or sick plants involved. They should be sharpened each spring so that the cuts they make are straight across and not a squished mess. The 'blood vessels' of a plant go through the stems so you need a clean cut straight across.

When pruning diseased branches such as those with fireblight, sterilize the tools after each cut. Dip blades in rubbing alcohol or a solution of one part bleach to 10 parts water.

Sallie writes~
I live in Salem, Oregon and wish to know if I dare prune my bushes, butterfly and hydrangea, now or in next year's spring or summer.

A. The best time for pruning most plants is in the early spring while the plants are still dormant. Spring flowering shrubs may be pruned at that time, but flowers for that season will be lost. For that reason, spring flowering shrubs are usually pruned as soon as flowering has been completed. Therefore, your butterfly and hydrangea bushes should not be pruned in the fall, but in about February-March.

Shrubs that flower in late spring and summer are best pruned in early spring. Avoid major pruning in late summer and early fall, as this may force late growth that will be damaged by freezing.

Two techniques are used for pruning shrubs:

Heading. By this method, branches are cut back to healthy buds. This leaves a cut close to a bud from which new growth develops.

Thinning. By this process, a shoot or branch is completely removed either back to ground level or back to another main branch or trunk. No prominent stub remains. Some plants require more of one method than another, but good pruning is usually a combination of both procedures.

My favorite recommendation for pruning info and lovely hand-drawn pictures, go to:

http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/hort/g06870.htm

Q. When should I prune my perennials? Now in September or should I wait until next spring sometime?

A. Most perennials can be divided as soon as they are through blooming for the year. Perennials need to be divided when the flowers are smaller than normal, the stems fall over easily, there are a large number of underdeveloped shoots, the center of the clump is hollow and dead and/or the bottom foliage is sparse and poor.

Most perennials need to be divided every three or four years, although some do not like being disturbed and should only be divided when necessary. A few plants, such as chrysanthemum, do best if divided every spring.

All spring blooming plants as well as peonies, irises and oriental poppies can be divided as soon as the blooms fade or in the fall. All others should be divided in very early spring in zones 2-5 and in fall in warmer zones.