At the risk of sounding like a broken record each week on the show, I have hammered home the point that now is the opportune time to prune so many things in the landscape. Plus, it makes you feel accomplished, pruning away the stuff that has looked bare and stemmy all winter long.
First, the reasons why we prune… let’s start with, for the health of the plant. If there are broken, dead or diseased limbs or branches, cut them off. Easy enough! In thinking about a plant maximizing its growth, it needs to be able to soak in all the sunlight it wants. Thus, you prune out crossing branches in the center of the plant, or thin some stems out (cutting them down all the way at the base), so that sufficient sunlight can reach all parts of the plant.
Next, we prune to reduce the size of a plant. Here’s where a little more thought and patience are required. Though not applicable to EVERY plant, a good rule to follow is only removing up to a third of the plant at a time, or during each pruning. And remember, if you prune a spring-flowering bush or shrub any time later than right after it’s finished blooming, you’ll potentially lose blooms the following spring, but that certainly won’t be a fatal blow to the plant. For over-sized azaleas and camellias perhaps, many folks want to do rejuvenation pruning. For azaleas, do this before the plant starts blooming, perhaps now. This way, it can focus on putting out new growth rather than new growth AND flowers.
Speaking of major pruning, I recently met Jim Pruckler, a local camellia expert and enthusiast, and he subscribes to ‘pruning’ camellia trees with a chain saw, down to waist or knee level. Yep! Jim says, “Do this in February or March before the new leaves emerge. Any time later would be disastrous, as the new growth will not be hardened off by the next Fall. There does not have to be leaves on the tree after this restorative pruning. There are “dormant” eyelets which will sprout out of the trunk by mid-June. And there will be a lot of them, so simply rub off the excess growth and shape the tree however pleases you.” He says this may make some gardeners freak, but happy camellias will always come back!
Other keys to pruning: when bouncing from plant to plant, it’s recommended to clean pruners well, so as to not spread any disease. Also, always cut back to a growth point, be it another stem, branch, node or bud that will soon become a branch. And despite what you observe around you, not every plant needs pruning. I’m content with leaving my mophead hydrangeas, crape myrtles and camellias just the way they are!