Are You a Gardener?

by Andrew Longo, Pruned Right!

The opportunity to write this article just happened to follow two infuriating recent work-related events. My company, “Pruned Right“, was contacted by two separate homeowners to hand prune their rhododendron, azaleas and other spring flowering shrubs and trees. It is late in the year, so with next year’s buds already set we simply hand pruned out dead wood and trimmed the plants back from the home’s windows, doors and walls. The clients were very happy with the natural appearance of the plant material and looking forward to seeing their homes surrounded by flowers in the spring of 2021. Sadly, in both instances the landscapers who cut the lawns weren’t specifically asked to not touch the shrubs and trees.

When those clients were not home the crews pulled up and not recognizing the natural appearance as appropriate, mutilated everything to the horror of the returning home owners.

There are landscape contractors who derive pleasure from seeing perfectly groomed healthy landscapes. They cringe or become enraged at the monstrosities once gorgeous plants are sheared into but, sadly not the majority of our profession.

Initial drafts of this article were versions like many others, imploring even pleading with landscape contractors to have more pride in their work and learn to prune correctly.

I decided to take a different approach!

This article is going to strongly encourage those of you who each year wait until the shrubs you butchered the prior year have almost filled in before destroying them again. You paid good money for those gas trimmers, so don’t let anyone say you can’t use gardener them. Those misguided [gahrd-ner] clients and defenseless noun shrubs are no match for the hordes of mechanical 1 a person who is emlocusts buzzing across ployed to cultivate or care properties large and for a garden, lawn, etc. small, creating flowerless 2 any person who is skillgreen meatballs and ful in gardening. soulless Japanese maple mushrooms.

There is no reason you can think of to let a severe drought, ninety degree plus heat, eliminating bloom cycles, increasing the likelihood of disease, insect or winter damage stop your minion from tearing into those plants. It is important to point out, the hard-working staff are being trained incorrectly if at all and it is absolutely not their fault. With a home’s curb appeal and a significant part of its value directly connected to how well the landscape plants are maintained, shrubs and trees need to be treated as an investment? In many cases it can be a tragic and expensive mistake to assume that everyone can do the job correctly! This problem requires all of us rethink the way plant material and properties are being cared for. There is so much to learn and always room to improve on what you know and do. I am hopefully optimistic that landscape contractors will decide to educate themselves and their clients on proper plant pruning techniques. There is no longer any reason to not learn proper plant maintenance. “YouTube” is there 24/7/365 and many nurseries and your landscape association can offer classes, articles and webinars to help you. The rewards of pruning correctly, which include healthier plants, personal gratification and financial gain, cannot be ignored. It is time for those of you who truly love this work to learn to do it correctly and proudly say, I am a gardener!

Andrew Longo is the Owner of Pruned Right in Nutley, NJ. Andrew studied pruning techniques at Rutgers Cook College and specializes in the care of ornamental trees, shrubs, specimen plants and roses. www.prunedright.com