LAST WEEK, BETWEEN edits on my next book, I gathered some friends and the proper tools and pruned–trying to erase more damage from last October’s snowstorm, and also the general stuff one needs to do late winter here each year. Lots more to go, but we’re off to a good start–which got me thinking you might be wondering what to prune when and how. That’s the topic of this week’s radio podcast–and also of some useful stories in the A Way to Garden archives: [read more…]
pruning
pruning time (in print or on the podcast)
March 19, 2012 at 11:59 am
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the hedge as masterpiece, by master piet oudolf
December 28, 2010 at 12:15 pm
MY GARDENING LIFE STARTED with a hedge—cutting one back hard, specifically. It was the threadbare, tall old privet surrounding my childhood home, and I was determined to “rejuvenate” it, after reading about the process in a book. No artful hedge has ever been created by my hands, though—a fact that feels all the more lamentable after watching Sean Conway’s video tour (above) of designer and nurseryman Piet Oudolf’s garden in the Netherlands. What magic. [read more…]
what’s wrong with this picture?
October 11, 2010 at 6:24 pm
IMUST HAVE SLEPT THROUGH A SEASON OR TWO, because it wasn’t until some big yellow crabapples formed right beside the little red ones a particular tree of mine is supposed to have that I thought, hmmm, I guess that’s rootstock making its way skyward. Oops. [read more…]
snowstorm aftermath: pruning, prayers, goodbyes
March 5, 2010 at 1:16 pm
I OPENED MY MOUTH TOO SOON TWO WEEKS AGO when I said it had been an unremarkable winter here. Late February’s wet snows promptly pounded the Northeast region, and the garden. During the storm and since, I did a little triage—emphasis on little, since in many cases storm-damaged trees and shrubs need time to rebound first as the snow recedes. I focused on minimizing further damage, and left it at that, for now. Here’s the drill: [read more…]
pondering a bout of mid-winter pruning
February 1, 2010 at 12:24 pm
IF THE BIG CHILL BACKS OFF A BIT MORE, I MIGHT GO PRUNE—at least remove the water sprouts that jut up vertically from branches of older fruit trees and magnolias here, and will never amount to anything but a mess that casts shade and wastes energy. I thought I’d remind you to look for opportunities in your own yard to get at the first pruning tasks (and get out of the house), things like these: [read more…]
great shrub: cornus sanguinea ‘winter flame’
January 25, 2010 at 10:13 am
THE BIRDS HAVE STRIPPED MOST EVERY JEWEL from the garden. I’m down to the crabapples on ‘Ralph Shay’ and ‘Bob White,’ which they seem to save for last, and the occasional holly berry. To add to the pain, a 55-degree thaw just erased the beautiful snow. At times like these, a gardener is grateful for any colorful twig she can get, and they don’t get much better than Cornus sanguinea ‘Winter Flame,’ above, a fiery haze even viewed from a distance. [read more…]
another hit: my accident-prone lacebark pine
December 13, 2009 at 7:10 pm
CAN A TREE BE ACCIDENT-PRONE? I fear my Pinus bungeana, or lacebark pine, is just that, always finding itself in harm’s way. And here we go again: [read more…]
pruning roundup: what shrubs i prune when
March 20, 2009 at 5:41 am
WHAT NOT TO DO IS AS IMPORTANT many times as what to do each season, the dont’s as powerful as the do’s. Nowhere is this more to the point than with pruning, the “there’s no turning around now” portion of horticulture, where you can’t glue it back on or wait a few weeks for another (forgiving) flush of foliage, as when you give a ratty perennial or annual a needed haircut. Are you feeling scissor-happy? Read this first. [read more…]
from the forums: pruning viburnums
June 3, 2008 at 3:47 pm
WHEN TO PRUNE VIBURNUMS? That timely question was raised this week on the Urgent Garden Question Forums. “When is the best time to prune large viburnum shrubs?” asked Forum member ZSteinberg. “Two are double-file, three are American cranberrybush and I don’t know the names of the other three. Any general recommendations?”
I have grown a lot of viburnums over the years, and have pruned them at various times of year for one reason or another. Usually viburnums need relatively little pruning, assuming you planted the right cultivar in the right-sized space (for example, not ‘Mariesii’ among the doublefiles, shown, but ‘Watanabei’ if you only had a smallish area). Even the lightest form of pruning, the removal of spent flowers called deadheading, isn’t needed with most viburnums, since what you want is fruit after the flowers (unlike all that deadheading with lilacs, for instance, to prevent messiness).
