Essential pruning aftercare

In love with planting: In next week’s AG, I start getting ready for another year of gardening, including planting one of our favourite shrubs, the bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa ).

Pruning and aftercare

Complete the task safely, successfully and with no waste

1Cut to a healthy outward-facing bud to avoid congesting the centre of the tree or shrub. Regular annual pruning also promotes blossom and fruiting.

3Clear weeds and grass so they can’t compete for food and water. Don’t forget to feed and mulch trees and shrubs after pruning.

2When pruning high or difficult branches, stand on a balanced platform or ladder and use long-handled loppers for easier cutting.

4Waste not, want not. Chop up small prunings for the compost heap and gather up longer ones to use as pea sticks and plant supports this summer.

Hard prunin

When trees and shrubs ar left to grow unchecked, they can become an unruly tangle of branches and weak stems. This not on unsightly, but can also cause a reduction in flowering and fruiting. Bring it back to life with some hard, or renovation, pruning. In the first year, take out dead, damaged, diseased and congested growth to ground level and remove half the shrub. Trim remaining stems by one half. The following year thin out excessive new growth and shorted remaining branches. In the third year, remove any remaining older stems before returning to a normal annual pruning regime. Feed and mulch well after each pruning. There may be no flowers for a season or two after renovation pruning, but the eventual result should be a stronger plant and improved blossoms and cropping. If you plan to hard prune an old tree or shrub, it is worth taking cuttings as an insurance policy in case it doesn’t recover afterwards. Old roses that have been pruned hard should regenerate well

Trees and shrubs that need leaving alone for now

ALTHOUGH most trees and shrubs can be pruned now, especially those that lose their leaves in autumn, there are some that should be left alone. Most obviously, these include early

flowering varieties such as forsythia, camellia and philadelphus that flower on the previous year’s growth. Cut them back now and they won’t produce blossom, so leave them alo until they have flowered. The sooner you cut them back after their blooms have faded, the longer they will have to produce flowering stems for next year’s colour. You should also leave evergreens alone as they a generally less hardy than deciduous varieties and sub-zero temperatures may damage or kill off cut stems. Wait until the weather has warmed up in late spring. Spores of the fungal disease silver leaf (Chondrostereum purpureum ) are prevalent in autumn and winter, and can infect several deciduous species are pruned now. hese include stone fruits, wthorn and poplars. Foliage evelops a silvery sheen and ffected branches may die nd develop an irregular rk stain in their centre as l as bracket fungi. Avoid sk of silver leaf by pruning mmer when spores are dormant. Similar leaf-silvering symptoms without the dead wood, called ‘false silver leaf’, can be caused by cold, draughts and stress. Prune evergreens in warmer weather