Spring cleaning with the pruners
Each season requires a special type of pruning. In spring it is primarily the turn of the bushes, shrubs and herbs. It is the right time when prolonged frost is no longer to be expected. This can be as early as March, but you are on the safe side from April.
The following in your garden will be glad of skilful spring pruning:
- Early-flowering plants such as forsythia and kerria japonica after they have flowered
- If necessary, thin out clematis of group 1
- Bring into shape hedges of box and Leyland cypress
- Pruning berry bushes
- Train newly planted privet and hawthorn bushes
- Cut back hydrangea and dead perennials from the previous year
- Rose pruning to remove frozen stems and to prune back
The best way to prune
When pruning, the aim on the one hand is to get your decorative shrubs back into shape. On the other hand, you also want to be able to enjoy many new flowers again this year. For that reason you can dare to prune back more severely. It is important that you cut out the old and dead stems as close to the ground as possible. Important: Only prune back early-flowering plants after they have bloomed!
With roses you should also cut out any weak stems and ones that are too close to one another so that the "remaining" 4 to 8 stems get all the energy. If you cut these back to a length of 20 or 30 cm and retain at least 3 buds per shoot, then you can soon look forward to a splendid show of roses.
Always cut off directly at the point where the branch to be cut back joins the rest of the shrub or bush. A flat ring just heals better and is less susceptible to infection.
