Prune, Prune, Prune - But Prune Right

Yikes!  The snow is all gone and look at the poor shrubs.  What to do now?  Pruning, pruning and more pruning.

Any shrub or tree that has damage from the snow weight, or from plowing, or has been stepped on by ladders for shoveling the roof, needs to be pruned now no matter when they bloom.

It kills me to prune my viburnum next to the driveway with all of this year’s buds, but it’s best to give all the damaged area clean, diagonal cuts.  Just prune out the damaged branches and wait to shape the shrub after it has flowered.  If the stems still have some life, bring them indoors to force, at least they’re not completely wasted.

The same goes for evergreens, especially boxwood.  Just part the plant and look for broken branches.  Prune out just the broken ones, the bent ones will bounce back.  It’s tempting to shape them now but don’t – wait until the new growth has flushed out and hardened off.

Beyond damage control, now is the time to cut down ornamental grasses.  Go as low as possible and rake out the center of leftover debris.  Hopefully you have a compost pile or woods where you can dump the dead stalks because the birds love them for nest-building.

Clean out your beds of excess leaves but don’t be nasty neat, some leaves are good for the soil.  Cut down any late perennials that you didn’t get to in the fall.  Be gentle raking around the crowns of the plants as they are still very fragile.  Try to keep your feet out of the beds when possible because the soil is still damp and compacts easily.  It’s still too early to dig or edge in the perennial garden, avoid anything that will disturb the soil structure until it has dried out and warmed up.

Ornamental maples and late flowering shrubs are easy to prune now before they leaf out because you can see the branch structure.  First remove any dead branches.  Then look for branches rubbing against each other that will eventually cause a wound.  Choose the better branch of the two and make a clean cut on the loser.  At this point stand back and assess the whole shrub again or as a wise old gardener told me, “step away from the shrub.” I’ve been known to get inside a shrub and get carried away.  The good news is, pruning is good.  Most shrubs really perform better with good, timely pruning.

Things you DON’T want to touch yet are roses (unless they are damaged), hydrangea (except arborescens varieties like “Annabelle” that can be cut to the ground) and anything that flowers early.  Tender shrubs like roses should wait until after the threat of frost.

I probably should have written this in the beginning, but I carry just three pruning tools.  Hand pruners that fit MY hand, loppers and a pruning saw will do 99% of the work but they have to be SHARP and lubricated.  It is no fun otherwise.  Clean the blades with steel wool, sharpen with a stone or file (or both) and wipe down with WD40.  The shrubs will thank you as well as your body parts.

Last but not least….CHEAT!  Nobody has time or energy to go out and spring clean the whole yard.  Look for what’s coming up or out first and start there.  Crocus and daffodils will be the first stars of spring so rake them out, forsythia and azalea next, and so on.  Don’t make it hard…make it rewarding.