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Late Winter Is Time To Prune

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Best Time To Prune

Visualizing how to cut tree branches

If we get a break in the weather (which we will, eventually), it will be ideal time to get the pruning tools out and clean up winter damage, trim out fruit trees, and cut back many clematis vines.

Those that bloom on new wood are prime candidates for pruning, although those which are scrubby looking, like quince bushes or other shrubs benefit from some pruning. I know we are supposed to wait until after bloom on many of our shrubs, but I have had some problems with some of them, and when a tree or shrub is dormant is one of the best times to prune, no matter when the bloom time.

That is my opinion anyway. Then there are situations such as my Pyracantha. It blooms in the spring and berries in the fall, but its growth gets out of hand, so to keep it in bounds, I may have to lose one or the other, and I simply have to shape it.

February/March, when I am doing the work anyway (tools out, bucket of water with bleach, proper clothing, etc) seems to be as good a time as any.

What Tools To Use?

The Essentials

I always grab my bypass pruning shears, or secateurs as the British wisely call them (‘shears’ could be a number of tools). Usually, if trees or big shrubs are on the agenda, the loppers and a pruning saw is included.
I have learned the hard way to have a bucket of water with some bleach added for sterilizing between cuts… mostly between different plants, so not to spread disease.
I always use garden gloves, unlike in my youth. That way, I won’t be afraid to grab thorny stems, gather up lots of shrubs, or even the occasional poison ivy.
No worries about poison ivy in the dormant season, though, which is another reason to use this time to clean up the tree and shrub areas during these months.
A cart or wheel barrow to gather together the removed branches etc.

Nice Non-Essentials

Sometimes a garden tote is handy for keeping tools together.
Those are the basics… specialized instruments in the garden are part of an arsenal that a gardener eventually accumulates is often part of the later forays into the garden.
I use hedge shears, sometime’s garden snips, and one tool I have never used, but believe would be highly useful is a pruning knife. Might buy one this year.

How To Prune?

Someone once said certain activities are best described by viewing an example than by describing with words or illustrations. I think pruning is one of those. I might make my own video (just because there are some gizmos I can’t wait to try out), but today you can watch a few I dug up for you .

Pruning Videos

 

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© 2015 written for Ilona’s Garden Journal by Ilona E. An excellent blog.

Today People Are Looking For…

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The candle growth on a pine.

 

Today people are looking for information on how to prune a mugo pine. That is the Google interpretation of what people want from this garden journal. It is just a little too late to be asking that question.

But it is just the right time to prune other things, like the Spring blooming shrubs:

Lilacs, Viburnums, Forsythia, Weigela, et al … all those shrubs that just finished flowering last month and could use a good trimming up? The time is now, and I have just the post for you:

 

Ask me how I know timing is important for pruning?

I was out of town when the time to prune the mugo pines was in season and I missed it. I had pruned off about half the candles of the one nearest the porch, but then got busy getting ready for my trip South and never resumed the job.

The other Swiss Mountain shrub ( aka Mugo) … the one that is already grown out of bounds on the other side of the house… didn’t get pruned at all.

I think it is a tree, now.

Luckily, the location is fine for its growth; but still, I had not intended for it to be more than a shrub.

It got away from me.

 

Other Chores for this Time of Year

This has been a year for that, so far. I started weeding the stone walk yesterday. The front garden will get mown (that is held off until bulb foliage matures), and will continue the “front yard recovery act”.

At least the weather has been nice!

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© 2011 written for Ilona’s Garden Journal. An excellent blog.

Mugo Pines: When to Trim and Prune

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To Prune or Not to Prune, That is the Question

Google keeps sending people to my blog for answers on when to prune a mugho or mugo pine. I know I’ve mentioned it in posts, but now it is time to inform everyone of the best time and the proper way to prune a Pinus mugo mugo

dwarf pine
An excellent variety of Mugo Pine, ‘Valley Cushion’

Don’t trim or prune your pine in the fall. That is the short answer. Pines will stop growing from the points at which you prune off their branches (they do not produce new buds from old wood) if you do it out of season. The right season is when the new candle growth begins in the spring.

The right way and time to prune a Mugo is when the new growth (candles) sprout out .You simply spruce them up (couldn’t resist the pun) by cutting the candles in half. Some people say “pinch growth by two thirds”, but I let them get a bit longer and slice them in half with the pruners (secateurs).

The main thing is to cut back just the new growth at this time.

Prune a Mugo Pine in the Spring

If you prune in this way it gives the most natural looking trim. I would keep up with it regularly, since mugos often get bigger than their reputation for being dwarf would indicate.

I have two shrubs at this property and had several at my city home years ago. There is a lot of variation in the compactness and ultimate size of pine shrubs labeled “Mugho” or “Mugo”.

They all look so nice and compact when you get the little ones at the nursery, but they grow into sizes that can overwhelm foundation plantings if you let them. The expert reason given:

Mugo Pine’s incredible, yet frustrating, variation is primarily the result of its large native range. Plants with large territories tend to have greater nature/variation than plants with small ranges because they must be flexible enough to adapt to different climactic conditions to survive. Mugo pine’s native range is western Europe, eastern Europe, southern Europe, and western Asia. Such a broad range requires a chameleon-like ability to adapt to different situations, which is why specimens of every size, shape and description can be found. Although there are many kinds of cultivated and naturally growing types, all are commonly known as mugo pine.

So there you go- if you happen to have one that grows larger, you can use the pruning technique of halving the candles each year, or so, to control the size. If I were to go shopping for mugo pine shrubs today I would look for the P. mugo cultivars “Mops”, “Sherwood Compact” and “Slowmound”… as advised by Anne Pink.

The mugo pine is located behind the hydrangea
The mugo pine is located behind the hydrangea
These pages may interest you:

Foundation Faux Pas

What a mugo will look like if you forget to prune

Prune your mugo

The previous post (2004) on pruning mugo pines.



Tags: Mugho Pine, prune,mugo pine

Pruning Your Mugo Pine

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Don’t Butcher Your Pine

The Mugo gets large when left unpruned

I have to make this small entry, to save someone out there from the butchering I saw was once done to mugo pines. On the other hand, if you don’t keep up timely pruning, you will have a monster bush on your hands ( like said example above).

Now (Spring with the new growth) is the time to snip the new growth, called candles. Snipping these growing points is how the pines should be pruned.

I usually just cut them half off with shears. Occasionally, in the larger type (mugos vary) I will cut out the odd branch or two to shape it,. Don’t ever cut pines into their old wood, such as the massive pruning that is done on some deciduous bushes.

Mugho, or Swiss Mountain Pines are dwarf trees, and they keep their shape well with yearly attention in the spring. It doesn’t take very much time to trim them. Half an hour for a very large shrub.

I haven’t spotted them this year, yet, but my mugos have often gotten an ugly case of caterpillars that strip the needles. I hand pick those and burn them. I suppose you could drown them in something, but I live in the country where we can still burn things. A little bar-be-cue stove would work in the city.

The things we do for our garden!

If you’d like information on how to plant and grow a Mugo pine:

updated to add: I wrote much more on this topic, “Pruning Your Mugo“