Pruning is an essential part of garden upkeep that, if done correctly, can dramatically transform trees and plants.
“With pruning, you have to use common sense,” said Rebecca Ritchey, president of Greenwood Garden Club. “It’s about whether you are a patient pruner or you just want to cut the bush back. I think it’s better to be a conservative pruner to see what happens.”
Jeff McManus, the University of Mississippi’s director of landscape services, recently talked to the members of the Greenwood Garden Club about pruning. McManus wrote a book called “Pruning like a Pro: Brown Thumb to Green Thumb.”
Richey said McManus taught the members that pruning can be one of the most effective methods for beautifying a garden, helping growth, correcting damage and improving the health of a plant.
Richey said that most of the members were interested in proper pruning methods for crape myrtles and azaleas.
Over-pruning of crape myrtle trees is common.
“We think that we are supposed to cut them back severely, but we don’t have to,” said Richey. “We can selectively snip them in an attractive shape.”
Richey said that the focus of pruning a crape myrtle should be about healthy growth and shaping the tree.
“A problem with crape myrtle trees is that people whack them off. ... Wherever you cut that branch, new growth will start forming,” said Richey. “In the spring, you’ll have all these tiny branches coming out. It’s just not a pretty shape. They’re overcrowded coming out of that stub.”
Topping encourages vigorous but weak growth. To reduce overcrowding and an unattractive shape, prune minimally by removing crossing, damaged and dead branches and suckers.
“If you pruned it correctly, it will be a nice shape,” said Richey. “People love crape myrtles. They like the trunks of the trees and the way the skin starts peeling. It’s such a beautiful effect.”
Azalea bushes are also very common plants in Greenwood.
“They sort of herald spring in the South,” said Richey. “When the azaleas come out in the spring, going down our main street here, Grand Boulevard, a lot of people have azaleas in their front yards, and it’s just beautiful to look at.”
Azaleas and other bushes should be pruned before getting too large.
“You can’t let the bushes get too tall or too thick. The sunlight is unable to get inside that bush,” said Richey. “You’ll have a bunch of stems and a little greenery.”
Another popular bush that needs proper pruning is the boxwood.
“They are beautiful shrubs. They give off those small leaves, and they can be in groupings or lined up,” said Richey. “Boxwoods are one of the most beautiful shrubs you can put in your yard.”
Gardeners should prune bushes working from the inside to the outside.
“You want sunshine to reach the inside of the bush. You don’t want the growth to come from the outside,” said Richey. “If you have a bush and it’s beautiful and has all this greenery, but some of the branches aren’t producing leaves, that’s because the inside branches aren’t getting any sunlight. You have to clip some of the branches that are hindering sunlight from getting to the bush.”
After pruning the inside, then a gardener can focus on the shape of the bush.
For the look, Richey recommends not making a bush slender at the bottom.
“Keep it about the same size from the bottom to the top,” she said.
If the plant begins flowering before May, prune after the flowers fade up until the end of July. After late July, the plant begins the process of producing buds for the next spring. This would include plants such as azaleas and camellias.
If the plant flowers in May or later, prune in late February or early March, before the start of new growth. Examples of these plants are boxwood bushes and crape myrtles, dogwoods, gardenias and hibiscus.
Rose bushes can be pruned in February or March prior to flowering and throughout the summer to promote new growth.
Larry Stephenson of the Southern Fruit Fellowship said that now is the time to finish pruning fruit trees while they are still dormant.
“You traditionally prune during the winter when the leaves are off and less sap is flowing through the tree,” he said.
Stephenson takes off the larger limbs of his fruit trees and says that the trees heal better while they are dormant.
When pruning, he usually removes dead wood, any branches that rub against each other or branches causing shade.
“I want light and air to be able to circulate through the limbs,” Stephenson said. “That will make a big difference. ... Air circulation and light will help it look a lot better and keeps it disease-free.”
Pruning also helps Stephenson’s trees to produce more fruit and at a quicker rate.
“I don’t like them more than 12 feet high,” he said. “I prune them to keep them at a reasonable height, so it will bear fruit in about three to four years.”
Also, thinning out the trees allows for larger, tastier fruit.
Stephenson said his pear trees grow so rapidly that he even needs to prune them in the summer during peak fruit production.
“A foot and a half to two feet of growth is what I want for a year,” he said. “I have some pear trees that grow 8 to 10 feet, usually straight-up growth that just saps all of the tree’s energy.”
Stephenson said it’s important to know what wood to trim: “You need to know what type of wood is going to bear your fruit.”
Apples and pears grow on wood that is two to 10 years old. Peaches and berries, however, produce fruit on the previous year’s growth.
“If you prune too much new growth, you are pruning the new fruit,” Stephenson said.
Stephenson said although most people are afraid of pruning, if they research the correct methods, it can only have positive effects. “With pruning, we’re really just trying to correct mistakes that we should have taken that growth off earlier,” he said.
•Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7233 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
