It’s time to prune shrubs and trees

Winters a few years ago were unseasonably warm, and on this blog I wrote, then, about flowers that were beginning to bud and to blossom out of season.  I was afraid that frost would come while they were in a vulnerable state and kill them.  All my plants are convinced that they should
remain dormant this winter, and I see no buds on plants that should be enjoying a winter rest.

Although I left this descendent of the  ‘Mahonia’ that my great aunt brought my grandmother from Oregon, and which my grandmother gave me when she dug it from the woods at her house at my old home when I sold it, I imagine it does have buds.  It is supposed to have buds this time of year, and honeybees visit the buds on warm days when it blooms in February. 

January and early February are a good time to prune trees and shrubs that do not bloom in the
spring.  Shrubs are dormant now, and although pruning spurs new growth in the warm months, it will not cause new growth during the winter.

On any shrub or tree, at any time of the year, remove dead, diseased, or broken branches.  To determine whether branches on deciduous trees or shrubs are dead or just dormant, bend the branch gently.  If the branch is pliable, it is alive and if it snaps, it is dead.  If the branch is too large to bend, scratch the bark with a fingernail; a live branch is green inside and a dead branch is gray or brown.

A favorite activity of landscapers this time of year is mauling crape myrtle trees and pruning otherwise naturally shaped shrubs into cubes.  People cut off the top branches of crape myrtle trees very short, so that the trees look like a slender pincushion with pins protruding off the top instead of enjoying the graceful, natural form of the tree.  

I pruned the crape myrtle tree at my own home by pruning out, to the junction with the branch, any crossing or dead branches, displaying the natural form of the tree.  Even without any foliage or flowers, it’s beautiful.

Below are examples of ‘Crape murder.’  Some hapless parking lot landscaper pruned off the top of these trees, causing them to sprout up many small branches because someone told him or her that pruning the tree this way would cause the tree to make more flowers.  More flowers will form, but I find that my tree gives me plenty of flowers anyway, and it isn’t heinous the rest of the year, either.

“Prune after bloom” is a good rule of thumb, so do not prune forsythia, hydrangeas, azaleas, and camellias, among other spring-blooming shrubs, until after they bloom.  If you prune them before they bloom, you will cut of the flower buds and will have to wait until next year for blossoms. 

Use hedge trimmers to shape boxwoods and hollies into squared-off shapes, if you
prefer it, but please do not prune azaleas, camellias, forsythia, loropetalum, and other shrubs with graceful, flowing branches into little squares or balls.  Flowering shrubs are much more
attractive, and easier to maintain, if you allow them to maintain their natural form. Reduce size by cutting off entire branches with loppers, not by giving them a haircut with hedge trimmers. 

If you must prune shrubs several times a year to keep them under control, the repeated chore is a sign that you have a shrub in the wrong place.  It may be too big for its spot, or it may have an unruly nature in a place where you would like a neat shrub.  Perhaps both you and the shrub would be happier if you removed it and put something more appropriate to the space in
its place.  

I butchered this loropetalum, above, because it was about to extend into my driveway.  Although I paid extra money for the dwarf version of the shrub, no one told the shrub it was supposed to stay small.  I eventually dug up this shrub and replaced it with another shrub of an appropriate size.