So far we’ve covered pruning tips- how to care for your pruners, how to prune and a general guide on pruning trees, shrubs, evergreens & perennials. Now let’s get onto the seasonality of pruning.
Did you know that pruning during certain times of year can affect how the plant grows? You can actually ENCOURAGE diseases and insect infestations by incorrect seasonal pruning. Here, we’ll guide you on which season is right.
Winter – Dormant pruning is most common. We handle our “spring” clean ups while the plants are still dormant or just popping out of their winter sleep. Winter pruning allows us to see the entire skeleton of the tree and accessing the tree without leaves can be a blessing, too. Most shrubs & evergreens will benefit from dormant pruning, too. When we want to maximize the fruit from a shrub, dormant pruning allows us to get in there prior to the flowers setting. If it doesn’t look like we’ll have a late freeze, perennials can be trimmed back in the winter, too. Most of the time we leave them for the early spring pruning cycle.
Spring/Fall – We typically do not prune plants in spring and fall. The plant’s energy is focused on growth or storage, not necessarily on recovery. Because of our typically cool, rainy spring and fall, you could encourage disease spread throughout the landscape. If you can prune the plant in the really early spring or late fall after the first hard freeze(some might call it early/late winter) that would be the best. If branches break and require pruning in spring or fall, make sure you disinfect your pruners, use the right-sized equipment for the branch and make good, clean cuts.
Summer – Some trees like birch, locust and aspens are pruned in mid-late summer after their new growth has hardened off. Remember, if you have a fruit-bearing tree, trimming in the summer will reduce the fruit…not an entirely bad thing if your tree can’t support the bounty! Most shrubs can be trimmed in the summer. In early summer, you could tidy up the late-blooming lilacs and some of the early blooming hydrangea. Dead-head your perennials during the summer months to encourage new blooms and / or healthy foliage.
Let us know if this guide was helpful! Subscribe to this blog if you want to hear more about all things landscaping 🙂
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