How to Prune Blooming Plants in Spring | Gardener's Path

Come late February or March, the winter is on its way out over much of the country. It’s pruning time for folks who have woody-stemmed plants that bloom or hedges and shrubs that need shaping up.

But how and when to prune are puzzling to many people who otherwise know a lot about gardening.

There are some basic rules that can serve as guidelines for pruning, but one should also carefully consider the individual cultivars of plants they have and realize that some of them don’t follow the rules precisely.

Why to prune in the first place?

Many spring-flowering shrubs like forsythia or some bush honeysuckle’s become straggly and horribly shapeless unless pruned every year.

An unpruned plant also gets rangy and takes up more space. It definitely will flower less than a pruned shrub.

Cutting out the deadwood allows the plant more breathing room and allows light into the interior for healthier growth and less danger of disease.

We know about deadheading, and pruning is just a heftier version of that on a larger scale.

The basic rule of thumb is that If a plant flowers before mid-June, prune it in the spring after flowering; if it flowers later, prune it in late winter or early spring. In other words, summer flowering plants are spring pruning candidates for sure.

But some May or early June bloomers can benefit from a light pruning too. Every plant in the garden or yard will benefit if deadwood is cut out and the plant’s center is opened up a bit for aeration and light to get through to inner leaves and branches.

So get a good garden guide before trying to wing it on your own and follow the directions for whatever plant that’s being attended to.

Pruning doesn’t require an arsenal of tools. The basic