Spring Shrub & Tree Maintenance
Regular maintenance to keep shrubs & trees happy
Happy March, everyone! Our first big to-do of the year in the garden is spring cleanup! This involves pruning shrubs and trees and cutting back perennial foliage. Today’s post is about shrubs and tree maintenance, and I’ll send a separate one about perennials!
Routine Shrub Pruning
In general, most shrubs don’t need the typical “spring cleanup” as perennials do, and I probably leave 90% of my shrubs alone all year. However, some do require pruning for size control. When you are pruning shrubs, there are two general rules to follow:
It’s generally best to prune a shrub right after it’s done blooming. If you have a spring-blooming plant (ex: Lilac or Rhododendron), prune it right after it’s done blooming - usually in May or June. That gives the plant time to recover and set blooms for next year. You can prune later in the season, but then you risk cutting off next year’s blooms.
It’s generally best practice not to prune off more than 1/3 of the plant at a time. Pruning more than that can stress the plant or encourage weak growth.
If you follow those general guidelines, you should be mostly good to go. However, below are details about a few specific shrubs that require some more nuanced maintenance.
Hydrangea
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