Whether you want an elaborate topiary garden, or something more relaxed and natural, pruning trees and shrubs is necessary to encourage sound structure, balanced shape, and denser growth. It is a garden maintenance task that helps to perfect the appearance and health of your garden without getting in the way of what it does naturally: change.
A garden will change with or without your guidance. Pruning is your way of having a say in the matter.
Pruning Stimulates Growth
Pruning shrubs and trees stimulates growth. That’s why you always want to time that to when the tree is in a growth state (spring). In the summer, trees switch from the growth stage to food making stage. So that would be the wrong time to prune because pruning then tells the tree to grow when it should be using its energy for making food. Food is produced in the summer and stored in the roots in the fall. The mass transition of food storage happens in the fall when photosynthesis stops and causes the leaves to change color. At this time, the sap drops and goes into the roots to be stored until the following spring to power new growth, flowering, and fruiting for the next year.
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The Benefits of Pruning Shrubs and Trees
If you neglect to have your plants pruned regularly, nature will prune them for you: weaker branches will die and fall off or get knocked down during a storm. You can practically guarantee that nature’s finished result won’t display the finesse you are looking for.
Regular pruning discourages pests and diseases especially in shrubs because it keeps the plant interior open to light and air movement. In the case of mature shade trees, pruning can prevent injuries or property damage caused by dead branches falling.
If you neglected to prune a vigorously growing shrub, you could end up with too much density. That could block sunlight, reduce airflow, and cause dieback in the interior branches. That dark, humid, tangled environment then becomes an invitation to insect infestation and a variety of mold diseases.
Essential Pruning Techniques for Trees
Successful pruning requires knowledge of an individual plant and its habits to know which methods to use and when.
Lateral Pruning
A technique commonly used by horticulturists for pruning shrubs is lateral pruning, which means selectively taking out interior branches. Lateral pruning removes limbs that are weak, are crossing and rubbing against each other, or not contributing to sound structural development. The removal of unnecessary branches promotes airflow and admits sunlight into the interior of the plant.
Elevation Pruning – The Three Cut Method
If your property features shade trees, like river birches, oaks, lindens, elms, or maples, your landscape maintenance and garden care provider may recommend what is known as elevation pruning or limbing up. They may apply this technique for practical reasons.
For example, to create space under the tree when cars or people need to be able to pass underneath without obstruction.
There are also aesthetic reasons for limbing up a tree: to reveal interesting bark texture and color or to show off beautiful branch structure. We frequently see this treatment with crape myrtles.
To prevent tearing that can occur when pruning heavy tree branches, your garden manager will use a three-cut method. It works like this: they first cut upwards from the bottom of the branch to create a notch a few inches away from the trunk. The second cut is then made from above so that the branch will bend inward but without putting pressure on the other side of the notch. The third and final cut is made near the collar, where the branch comes out of the trunk. This is critical because it prevents the tree’s cambium from being torn in a long gash. When the cambium is intact, a tree can recover quickly from cuts because the cambium grows over the wound.
Canopy Thinning
Another type of tree pruning is canopy thinning. This is done to allow air to flow freely through the top part of the tree. When a tree’s canopy is too dense, it can get knocked over by strong winds. To thin the canopy, the branches that grow from left to right are selectively taken out.
Sometimes it may be necessary to top a tree. That is, pruning the branch tips to reduce weight and contain the size of the tree. If this treatment must be employed, it should always be done very carefully and at the right time of year.
Trees usually grow from the tips of the branches. When you top a tree, you are removing all the buds, and the tree will have to use its energy to create new buds. This can cause harm to the tree by reducing the tree’s food-making capacity and inviting sucker formation, as the tree sends out emergency shoots to attempt to make up for the loss.
When to Prune – Timing is Everything
Of equal importance to why and how to prune, is when to prune because pruning shrubs and trees at the wrong time could affect them adversely.
For most flowering trees and shrubs, the optimal time to prune is when the flowers are fading and just before they are fully flush with foliage, which is usually from mid-April to mid-June.
Spring-flowering shrubs, like azaleas, should never be cut back in fall or winter because doing so will remove their flower buds that set in the new growth over the summer. Instead, spring bloomers should be pruned as soon as flowering is complete.
Summer bloomers should be pruned in their dormant time, which is late winter and early spring. Fall bloomers, like asters and chrysanthemums, should also be pruned at the end of their flowering season.
It’s important to seek the advice of a skilled and knowledgeable garden management professional because regularly pruning shrubs and trees is the way to get the most enjoyment from your gardens and landscape.
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