{"id":10710,"date":"2018-10-30T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T16:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=10710"},"modified":"2023-10-25T13:00:20","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T17:00:20","slug":"some-fall-winter-pruning-dos-and-donts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2018\/10\/30\/some-fall-winter-pruning-dos-and-donts\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall – Winter Pruning Dos and Don\u2019ts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bad cuts (sap leakage in winter)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Hand tools for pruning<\/p><\/div>\n

Pruning is a chore that you don\u2019t need to put off until spring. Many trees and shrubs may be pruned this\u00a0autumn. However,\u00a0 NOT all landscape trees and shrubs are pruned.\u00a0 Here are some pruning guidelines to follow:<\/p>\n

WAIT <\/strong>to\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>prune spring flowering deciduous shrubs such as Forsythia, Lilac, Bridal Wreath & Vanhoutte Spireas, Quince, Viburnums, Fothergilla, Weigela, Deutzias, and some others. Add some evergreen flowering shrubs including all azaleas (both evergreen and deciduous) and rhododendrons, Japanese andromeda (Pieris japonica<\/em>), Mountain laurel (Kalmia), Daphne, and Mahonia.\u00a0 Wait 3-4 weeks after spring flowering to prune all the above shrubs plus a few others not listed.<\/p>\n

DO PRUNE NOW:<\/strong>\u00a0 Summer flower shrubs should be pruned now while they are dormant to manage size, shape, balance, and uniformity prior to spring growth.\u00a0 These include Summer Spireas, Panicle hydrangeas (H. paniculata<\/em>) & Smooth hydrangeas (H<\/em>. arborescens), Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus<\/em>), Bluemist (Caryopteris<\/em>), Butterfly bush (Buddleia), Potentilla (cinquefoil), Summersweet (Clethra). and others.<\/p>\n

Hold off pruning Big Leaf Hydrangeas (H. macrophylla<\/em>).\u00a0They bloom\u00a0both on old last year\u2019s wood and on new wood.\u00a0 Wait until spring to determine if winter\u00a0climes have injured the old wood.\u00a0After harsh winters\u00a0Big Leaf hydrangeas may be\u00a0cutback to 3-5 feet and will bloom mostly on new wood later in summer.<\/p>\n

ROSES<\/strong>:\u00a0 Pruning varies according to the\u00a0species of roses.\u00a0 Hybrid Tea, Grandiflora and Floribunda types\u00a0can be lightly prune back by 25 to 30%.\u00a0 In the early days of spring, prune to the desired height and width,\u00a0remove diseased or broken canes, and thin out the interior of the bush.\u00a0 Shrub roses including Knock Out\u2122, Home Run\u2122, and Carefree\u2122 series are pruned down to 18-36\u2033 in height.\u00a0 Shorter types like OsoEasy\u2122 and Flower Carpet\u2122 are pruned to 12-18 inches in height.<\/p>\n

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Don’t Prune Crape myrtles until\u00a0late winter<\/p><\/div>\n

CRAPE MYRTLES<\/strong>:\u00a0 Predicting winter cold is foolhardy, so hold off until spring. In general, crape myrtles need for little annual pruning\u00a0other than\u00a0removing dead, diseased, weak wood, and the old seed heads.<\/p>\n

DECIDUOUS SHADE TREES<\/strong>:\u00a0 Prune them now before or after leaf drop.\u00a0For young, newly developing trees, thin out excess branches, remove lower limb, and shape of the tree\u2019s upper crown.<\/p>\n

SPRING FLOWERING TREES:<\/strong>\u00a0 Wait 3-4 weeks until after spring flowering to prune, mostly for appearance.\u00a0 Remove dead, diseased, and weak branches and twigs.<\/p>\n

Special note:<\/strong>\u00a0Maples (Acer spp<\/em>.), Birches (Betula spp.<\/em>), Yellowwood (Cladrastus<\/em>), and Dogwoods (Cornus<\/em>)\u00a0 exhibit a high sap pressure\u00a0and often bleed when pruned in late winter and early spring.\u00a0 If you prune them now, they will \u201cbleed\u201d sap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pruning is a chore that you don\u2019t need to put off until spring. Many trees and shrubs may be pruned this\u00a0autumn. However,\u00a0 NOT all landscape trees and shrubs are pruned.\u00a0 Here are some pruning guidelines to follow: WAIT to\u00a0\u00a0prune spring flowering deciduous shrubs such as Forsythia, Lilac, Bridal Wreath & Vanhoutte Spireas, Quince, Viburnums, Fothergilla, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1304,963,696,669,299,656,914,1362,844,1186,10,702,1112,1270,9,1164,1309,1399,675,853,623,1435,994,616,738,404,1385,998,601,383,729,1235,712,469,598,1445,1321,921,705,1002,706,1184,1085,1139,708,714],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10710"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14402,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10710\/revisions\/14402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}