Keith Hansen

At this time of year as our trees enter dormancy, homeowners often think about pruning their plants. Improper pruning can destroy in 10 minutes the beauty, grace and vigor of a plant that nature has worked for years to create. It is better not to prune at all than to do it incorrectly.

Proper pruning of trees and shrubs involves art and skill. The artistic part is to prune plants so the result is pleasing to the eye - a compliment to the yard and landscape. One only needs to look at the thousands of butchered crape myrtles across the South to understand the lack of art applied to this particular plant.

Skill and technique comes from understanding a few basic rules, and applying them correctly through practice.

Plants may need pruning for any number of reasons: training young plants to be structurally strong, to encourage fruit or flower production, to correct or redirect growth, and remove dead or diseased wood.

All pruning cuts should be made just above a growth point (dormant bud) or at a branch union. Never leave stubs if all possible because the remaining stub will die and promote decay back into the remaining branch.

Some pruning tips for other plants:


HYDRANGEAS

Most hydrangeas bloom on previous season's growth which means growth that was produced in 2007 will bear flowers in 2008. This is true for the common mop head or bigleaf hydrangea with large blue or pink flower heads, and for oakleaf hydrangeas with the clusters of white flowers in late spring. These should be pruned after blooming. Since bigleaf hydrangeas bloom over a long period of time, you may need to selectively prune shoots that have already bloomed while leaving others to finish blooming. If you prune hydrangeas back to the ground at this time of year, you will eliminate all flowers the following year.

If the plant has overgrown its spot, remove the oldest shoots to the ground, leaving the younger shoots to fill in. Prune remaining shoots after blooming, leaving just 2 to 4 pairs of buds.


AZALEAS

Most folks realize that azaleas, like hydrangeas, bloom on previous seasons growth, which means you hold off pruning until after spring bloom. However, you can still do selective shoot removal in the wintertime without messing up spring bloom. For example, strong, vigorous limbs shooting up above the rest of the planting can safely be removed at any time during the year.


ROSES

Modern roses, which bloom throughout the summer, produce flowers on current season growth. Therefore, to stimulate strong, vigorous growth, hybrid tea roses are pruned in early to mid-February. An exception is for roses that bloom only once a year in the spring. Some antique roses and climbing roses fall into this category, like Lady Banks rose. Once-blooming roses are pruned after they finish blooming in spring.


CRAPE MYRTLES

Mentioned earlier as examples of nearly universally poorly pruned plants, crape myrtles take a beating every winter when cut mercilessly back by well-intentioned, but misinformed, gardeners. Somewhere along the line of gardening history, it became fashionable to severely cut back crape myrtles. Perhaps some thought it was a cultural necessity for the health of the plant. Others may have felt it enhanced blooming. Some see others cutting back and must feel that it just "one of those things'' that must be done each year. Still others may have planted a large cultivar where a small one should have been planted, and cut it back every year to make it fit into its location.

Besides the summer flowers, one of crape myrtles outstanding features is the beautiful sinuous trunks and limbs with the exfoliating (peeling) bark. A well-trained crape myrtle can be just as beautiful in winter as in summer when in full bloom. Annual topping of these plants ruins the winter aspect of these great plants. The resulting knuckle of wood on top of the trunks with short stubs sticking out is an eyesore to many.

University research has also shown that pruning crape myrtles in the fall through winter can result in an increase in freeze injury and dieback.

There is a crape myrtle sized and shaped to fit any landscape situation. Pruning should only accentuate the natural shape and character of the plant, and to remove crossing, rubbing and crowded branches. Small twigs and dead wood along with old seed heads can also be removed on smaller, younger trees.

Keith Hansen is Smith County Horticulturist with Texas Cooperative Extension. His web page is http://EastTexasGardening.tamu.edu and Blog is http://tceblogs.tamu.edu/mt/etg Texas Cooperative Extension educational programs are open to all individuals without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age or national origin.

Keith Hansen
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