Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Larry Sagers Horticultural Specialist Utah State University Extension Service Thanksgiving Point Office © All Rights Reserved
Last spring, I devoted several columns to pruning the home orchard because so many people do it incorrectly. If pruning the home orchard is a problem, pruning shrubs is a crisis. Over the next several weeks, join me here for the semiofficial Deseret Morning News SOS (Save Our Shrubs) campaign.
The call to arms in the SOS campaign is to first use the right tools. Your thumb and forefinger are the first tools to consider. Use them to pinch off shoots, unwanted buds, long stems, and snap off faded blooms or seed pods.
Buy a high quality pair of hand pruners, long handled loppers and a good pruning saw. Avoid cheap tools as they are frustrating to use and damage your plants. Buy hedge clippers only if you are growing hedges.
Electric or gas powered shears are among the most misused garden tools. Uneducated gardeners cause serious problems because these tools are usually making the wrong cuts in the wrong place and most people take too much off their plants when using them.
Successful pruning starts with the right plant in the right place. Pruning is never a substitute for plants that are too large for their intend use or for plants that are too small. Replacement is often a better choice than continuing to prune plants so badly that they are never unattractive in the landscape.
While controlling plant size is a common reason to prune, there are many other reasons to prune. Pruning removes dead, diseased, or broken branches and decreases injury risks and/or property damage around your home.
Pruning old, established shrubs rejuvenates them and stimulates flower and fruit development to make your shrubs more attractive and more functional in the landscape.
Pruning also shapes plants into unusual shapes or into unnatural forms. These include hedges of all sizes and shapes. It also includes topiary, where plants are shaped into geometric shapes or figurines and espaliers where plants are shaped into two dimensional shapes where they are trained against a wall or trellis. There are literally hundreds of species and cultivars of ornamental shrubs used in Utah landscapes. While it is impossible to include every plant that is grown here, there are basic guidelines that help grow attractive and useful shrubs.
While many like to emphasize the mysteries of pruning techniques and the timing of those techniques, the easiest way to become a knowledgeable pruner is to learn about the anatomy and growth patterns of your plants.
