April 28, 2008

pruning, pared way down

Filed Under tools & techniques, trees & shrubs

ONE OF GARDEN’S FEAR FACTORS (except to those who’ve totally mastered it, which doesn’t include me) is pruning, the way to get our woody plants into shape and keep them that way. I want to offer a version of pruning that’s so pared down that anybody can do it (even if you don’t yet have the kind of artistic vision that turns boxwood into crowing roosters, or reshapes a badly storm-damaged tree so well that nobody notices it was ever hit). All you have to do to be at least a B-plus pruner are these simple steps:
Take out the three D’s anytime they occur. The D’s are dead, damaged and diseased wood—and why wouldn’t you want to do this? (Some people say there are five D’s: dying and deformed being added to the list, but I’m trying not to get us overwhelmed.)
Take out all suckers and “water sprouts” as often as required. This means that mess at the base of a grafted shrub or tree that looks like a thicket of shoots surrounding the trunk. It also means those things that shoot straight up vertically off a branch at a 90-degree angle or thereabouts from the branch, very common on fruit trees, say, or old magnolias. Look at the architecture of these shoots: If you left them on, what would they turn into? (They’d turn into the disaster in the photo below.) Nothing very useful, or well-engineered. Don’t wait until you have a mess like this. Gone!
Similarly, if anything’s thinner than a pencil or turning inward in a way that looks like trouble, off with its head. Rubbing against another branch is no good, either. (Those are probably all in the D called deformed.)
We’ll get to the advanced intermediate stuff and maybe even some advanced stuff in time, but for now, can we all agree to be vigilant about those few simple steps? Our shrubs and trees will look all the more beautiful if we do.
Required equipment: A serious pair of shears, probably Felco’s; a folding hand saw (again, don’t get el cheapo, but Corona or Felco or ARS), and a long-arm pruner (I swear by my ARS 4-footer, and now there’s a telescoping 6-to-10-footer, too). A pair of serious loppers also recommended. Have more pruning questions? Ask them in our Urgent Garden Question Forums.

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Comments

6 Responses to “pruning, pared way down”

Terri Clark on April 28th, 2008 11:49 am

Such great and timely advice, Margaret! I am looking at the Sambucus nigra that is settled in front of taller trees and shrubs in my border that has sent out rockets of limbs obscuring all behind it. I like to keep it mid-height and spreading and the only way is to stool it now- not tomorrow. So despite the drizzle I’m off to the border with sword in hand!
annie on April 28th, 2008 12:53 pm

thank you, thank you. This was the topic at our house & garden this weekend…you’ve given me the confidence to go out and start lopping!

p.s. I got your book recently and am enjoying everything about it–the prose, the photos, the information. Well done!
A.
teaorwine on April 28th, 2008 1:29 pm

Last night after the golf was over, I rustled my husband out the door along with the long arm pruner to take out the dead wood from my sweetbay magnolia. Making way for new growth, the tree is looking great!
margaret on April 28th, 2008 2:51 pm

Annie,
Glad you got the book…though it is so odd for me to see the garden as it was 12 years ago in those pages compared to now. New photos on the link under “Who’s gardening here” on the homepage (about 4 or 5 years ago) and of course here as I shoot them! It has grown and changed so much, matured.
So happy that you, too, are out pruning (along with me and Tea or Wine and Terri). A small but determined army of pruners, out fighting chaos in the underbrush. Good for all of us.
M.
Maria Nation on April 29th, 2008 11:48 am

I love this site, Margaret! Brilliant! I’ve been a huge fan of yours since buying your book and visiting your garden a few times. Now I’ve been telling everyone about this site. Welcome, and thank you!

Your pruning tips are greatly appreciated. The more I trend towards shrubs and trees in my gardens the more I need to overcome my prunophobia. Last spring I coppiced my Yellow Twig Dogwood (Cornus Sericea) - right down to the ground. Then nearly fainted when it appeared that I killed them all. But I didn’t and its beauty this last winter with the bright, new-yellow stems in the snow has given me a lot of confidence in the pruning department. My big hang up had been not knowing where on the shrub to make the cut. Learning that the best cut is often at the base of the shrub was a HUGE boost in my understanding of things. Removing a third of the old grown in multi-stem shrubs produces wonderful new, lush growth and is easy to grasp - although am not sure which “D” this technique falls under.

Thanks again and I look forward to all your tips and inspiration and virtual hand-holding.

best wishes,

Maria
margaret on April 29th, 2008 6:12 pm

Dear Maria,
Welcome–to the blog this time, not the garden itself.
I think you are onto the intermediate pruning lesson, which it sounds like you are qualified to teach us! ;-)
You are correct, cutting out like a third of the oldest stems in overgrown multi-stem shrubs each year over several years can “rejuvenate” the plant and make room for fresh new stems to thrive.
Now I know what pruning topic I have to address next…
M.
PS–the twig dogwood and twig willows, grown for their winter interest, are one of my favorite groups of plants. A very smart choice for making a 365-day landscape.

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Who's Gardening Here?

from martha to just margaret
I was so blessed to visit and document many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as its garden editor and then as editorial director for the company. The list of places we were proud to publish included my own upstate New York home a few years back. Take a tour of how it looked then. Want to know more about me? Or read what Anne Raver said in June in The New York Times, calling A Way to Garden “the best (garden blog) I’d ever seen.”
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One of the most popular questions at A Way to Garden: Why do you garden? A bunch of us answered in a stream of comments, but there's great newer stuff on the Forums. Just in case you'd like to tell us why, too (or have a good read about what makes the rest of us tick).
August Garden Chores

All based on my Zone 5B Berkshire/Hudson Valley location; adjust accordingly.

I SOMETIMES THINK THAT AUGUST, not April, is the cruelest month (though T.S. Eliot thought otherwise). Hazy, hot and humid…and plum tuckered out. But give up we must not. Every weed pulled now is a hundred you don’t have to deal with later (well, who knows the precise math of mama weed to baby weed, but you get the idea: prevention!). Don’t let them go to seed.

WATERING IS another major focus; don’t waste water on lawns, which will bounce back from brown in time when cooler, moister days return.

MAKE A PASS through each bed each week, since weeds are not just unsightly but steal moisture, nutrients and light from desired plants. Top up mulch in all garden beds if washed or worn away to help in the plight.

TREES & SHRUBS

STOP FEEDING woody plants. Promoting more soft growth in high summer isn’t good; time for them to start moving toward the hardening-off phase of their cycle. No more eats till earliest spring.

TREES ARE especially vulnerable to drought, particularly the oldest and the youngest (those planted in the last few years). Water deeply, as with a Tree-Gator. Ugly…but better than not watering the kids!

ALWAYS BE on the lookout for dead, damaged, diseased wood in trees and shrubs and prune them out as discovered. Ditto with suckers and water sprouts.

VEGETABLE, FRUIT & HERBS

AS AREAS COME EMPTY from harvest, build vegetable-garden soil by sowing cover crops: medium red clover now, or perhaps winter rye if you don’t do some areas till mid-fall. These “green manures” will be turned under to improve soil tilth and fertility.

SOW ANOTHER CROP OF PEAS right now for fall harvest (and perhaps freezing for offseason use!). Shelled peas from the freezer really make risotto in January taste like summer.

STRAWBERRY BEDS may appreciate rejuvenation now, if you didn’t get it done last month.

KEEP ASPARAGUS well weeded. Let asparagus ferns grow till frost to feed the underlying crowns.

DID YOU HARVEST GARLIC? Save the best heads for replanting this fall, the ones with the biggest cloves (or order more for fall delivery).

ANOTHER SOWING of chard, radishes, arugula, spinach, turnips, beets and lettuce means succulent fall crops. With salad greens, sow small amounts now and again in 10 days. Direct-sow one more row of bush beans if you don’t have pole beans to rely on for harvest now through fall, but do it fast.

DID YOU START MORE BASIL from seed? Young, fresh plants sown immediately will be better than woody old ones for combining with those fall tomatoes. Is there enough fresh dill coming for late pickles? For peak flavor, basil, sage, marjoram and oreganos, mint, tarragon are best harvested just before bloom. Harvest lavender, rosemary and chamomile as they flower, blossoms and all.

FLOWER GARDEN

DAYLILIES can be dug and divided as they complete their bloom cycle, right into fall, if needed.

PEONIES are best divided and transplanted in late August through September, if they need it. Remember with these fussy guys that “eyes” must not be buried more than an inch or two beneath the soil surface. Want more peonies? Now’s the time to order from places like Klehm’s (see Sources list).

MANY POPULAR ANNUALS can be overwintered as young plants if you take and root cuttings now rather than try to nurse along leggy older specimens. Geraniums, coleus, wax begonias, even impatiens (to name just a few common ones), if grown in good light indoors and kept pinched and bushy, will yield another generation of cuttings for next spring’s transplants. Probably best to expend this effort and space on things you really treasure—an unusual form of something, not the garden variety.

MANY PERENNIALS and biennials can still be started from seed if you hurry, then set out in the fall into nursery beds.

DEADHEAD FADED PERENNIALS and summer bulbs unless they have showy seedheads, or you want to collect seed later (non-hybrids only).

ORDER BULBS to get varieties you want (see Sources). Remember our “early, middle, late” mantra when doing so.

PREPARE NEW beds for fall planting by smothering grass or weeds with layers of recycled corrugated cardboard or thick layers of newspaper, then put mulch on top.

RE-EDGE BEDS to make a clean line and define them, and keep edges clean with regular fine-tuning with grass shears. A clean edge makes a big difference.

GENERAL

IF YOU ARE IN JAPANESE BEETLE territory, handpick (as with other obvious pests like tomato hornworms) in early morning and drown in a can of water to reduce infestation. Plan to try to reduce grub population with nematodes.

GARDENS NEED an inch of water a week from you or the heavens. Check your rain gauge to make sure they get it, and remember: soak deeply in the root zone, don’t spritz things with a sprayer now and again like you’re washing the car. That’s a garden no-no. Pots need extra attention, especially smallish ones in sun, and they also need regular feeding. Be alert!

HOUSEPLANTS

IF HOUSEPLANTS NEED repotting, do it now, while’s they’re still outside (less messy than in the house!). Don’t step up more than an inch (on small pots) or a couple (on large ones). Most plants don’t like to swim in their containers.

LAWNS

MID-AUGUST TO MID-SEPTEMBER is prime lawn-renovation and planting time in the North.

DON’T BAG OR RAKE clippings; let them lie on the lawn to return Nitrogen to the soil.

COMPOST HEAP

DON’T LET the heap dry out completely, or it will not “cook.” Turning it to aerate will also hasten decomposition, but things will rot eventually even if not turned.
Brief but Juicy

ultimate garden no-no’s
WHEN SOMEONE ASKED in a comment about my point of view on using landscape fabric, the fuse was quickly lit: NO! I said. NO! I’ve rounded up some no-no’s we’ve posted collectively so far, but I bet by now there are a few more things to bitch about. Grab a lawn chair and a cold drink, and we can fester together. Sure beats weeding (which ought to be a garden no-no).

lose anything lately?
THE SAYING GOES THAT a thing of beauty is a joy forever. I guess “forever” in this case is in the mind’s eye. My darling, oldest bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) went down for the count in July, or at least half of it did, and I had already seen the death knell for a couple of my 10 crabapples. Jeez.

true love, really
LOOK, I HAVE A THING for frogs. Call it my little fetish. An issue. Whatever. My general obsession notwithstanding, I’ve finally met THE ONE FOR ME.

hail the stewartia
I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP. By that I mean they do more than a week or two of showing off; they look good in more than a single moment, or season. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if that’s the kind of multi-season interest you are looking for. Sound good?

more, more, more clematis
WHEN I SEE ‘POLISH SPIRIT’ CLAMBERING up and through the golden Chamaecyparis in late spring-into-summer, I realize I have a serious Clematis shortage around here. Not in the Chamaecyparis, specifically, but in lots of other places where things look a little dull. I’ve got a penchant for growing vines up and over otherwise-dull shrubbery, you see.

can-do pruning
REPEAT AFTER ME: I can prune. I can prune. If you follow this simple method for starters, your woody plants will thank you.

the ‘other’ peonies
JUNE WAS PEONY TIME, the big raucous kind of peony time, but just before that another kind of peony you might want to consider adopting did its subtler, wonderful thing.

which lilac to plant?
SO MANY LILACS, so little space. Browse a glossary of some of my favorites before you shop—maybe you’ll like them, too.

non-blooming peonies?
Did your peonies not cooperate—was there not a good crop of flower buds, and you don’t know why? This came up on the Forums, and here’s the dish.

twist-off ticks
I AM COMING IN everyday with at least a tick or two on me; not embedded, thankfully, so far, but it's only a matter of time. But I am prepared. Are you?

anything but forsythia
I guess I have a thing against forsythia…even though I have several specimens of it along the fringes of my property. But there are better choices for spring color among shrubs.

surprise (avian) visitors
If you make a garden for birds, or even plant a crabapple or two (or ten), you never know who’ll show up.

magnolias to love
THEY’RE MEMORIES NOW but I couldn't garden without magnolias. Want to know more about the queen of the spring-blooming trees?

order in the garden
I AM LABELING my plants, I am. As memory fades, out comes the label machine, just in the nick. Saved by the Dymo. You can be, too.
Buried Treasure

I NOTICE THAT BLOGGING results in some rich but buried treasure: great stuff in a comment thread you may not see; interesting topics on the forums that perhaps you haven't visited.

Subjects ranging from feeding and pruning Hydrangeas and pruning clematis, to entertaining (read: ranting) lists and lists of garden no-no’s (not just mine!).

Pick a click, and enjoy. Better yet, CHIME IN yourself. Up in the nav bar…that's right, GO FOR IT: our Q&A FORUMS.