Pruning Problems. Information and advice when and how!

Many shrubs do not require any pruning whatever! However, if you are a habitual pruner, or your shrub does actually need pruning, then do it properly and at the right time. This section is dedicated to those gardeners who wander round aimlessly with a pair of secateurs - snipping away and trying to look knowledgeable - as they massacre the shrubs and perennials in their little plot! Pruning - when it is to be done - has a specific purpose other than keeping a tidy garden! It can help to increase the number and quality of flowers if done correctly. It can also ruin any chance the plant had of flowering at all if pruning is done at the wrong time. The main reason that many shrubs have to be pruned, is because they were planted in the wrong place in the first instance!

Common Problems with pruning.

Pruning at the wrong time:

• Many shrubs need around six months of the growing season to produce flower buds for the next year. For instance, Rhododendrons, start to make their flower buds for the following year, right after they have flowered in the current year, and they need several months for that process to be completed. So, if you prune your Rhododendrons in the middle of summer - or even worse, in the autumn/fall, you are effectively cutting off the flower but that will have bloomed next spring. other plants that fall into this category are, Camellias, Witch Hazel, Forsythia, Ribes and Magnolias. In fact, virtually all of the choice and not so choice spring flowering shrubs!
• Some shrubs that flower in mid to late summer, grow their flower bud at the tips of the current seasons growth. Roses and Buddleja (Buddleia) are two typical examples. They ONLY flower from stems that are produced in the current year/growing season. In this case - as distinct from the earlier group above, these plants need to be pruned in the spring - to encourage plenty of new stems, which in turn produce the flowers.  If this group of shrubs are not pruned each spring, then gradually the flowers will get smaller as each year ensues. A typical example can be seed with wild Buddleja which are never pruned. The flowers are quite small - unlike a good well-cultivated specimen. This is simply because, with the un-pruned specimen, the flower buds gradually get further away from their food source (the roots) each year!
• Another group of shrubs that need perfect timing - and technique, are the types of Dogwoods (Cornus) that are grown for winter stem effect. Obviously, if this group are pruned too late in the growing season to produce substantial new stems, then the winter stem colour is not going to happen!

New flower buds forming on a Magnolia in June July - ready to mature for next spring. It does not get another chance to form these buds after this period, so don't cut them off in mid-summer!

 
The Hydrangea arborescens clearly flowers on new stems, made in the current year, so hard pruning  in spring ensures a ready supply of these stems - and flowers/

 
Cornus sibirica - The Dogwood - which is grown for it's winter stem effect. This should be cut back hard in early spring - in time to allow it to grow all of those spectacular stems that will give this effect throughout the following winter.