At our Grandview Garden Club meeting last week, Mary Dunn, a member of the South Surrey Garden Club and Master Gardener, was our special speaker, and her topic was Pruning!
I took a few notes and thought I’d share some of her tips with you.
Cheers,
Penny
4 Reasons to Prune (and in this order):
- for the health of the plant — you improve air circulation and keep the plant open
- to improve the beauty of the plant
- to stimulate vigorous growth
- to control the plant’s size
There are two kinds of pruning cuts:
- Heading cuts
- Thinning cuts
Heading cuts:
Heading cuts remove the apical bud (growth tip), which is a source of auxins. This stimulates lots of growth of lateral shoots.
You can do heading cuts, like with a hedge trimmer, on plants that have many close-together branches like lavender, thyme, rosemary, boxwood; they can all be sheared off.
Thinning cuts:
With thinning cuts, either remove an entire branch or stem or cut down to one that’s at least a third of the diameter of the one you’re taking off.
What do you take off?
The three Ds
- Dead material
- Damaged or dying material
- Diseased
The two Cs
- Crossing branches
- Competing branches
She advocates the maxim: “Wander, Ponder, then Prune”
Spend a lot of time thinking about what you want to take off before you go to work.
Never leave stubs!
When to prune what:
- Early spring bloomers, prune after they bloom.
- Summer bloomers, prune when dormant (like now!)
Remember that the buds are on the new growth.
Keep your pruning equipment (loppers, secateurs) clean and sharp and well-oiled. Lee Valley has a good little hand sharpener; just 4 or 5 strokes should sharpen your secateurs. Sharpen between uses; sterilize (with bleach or Lysol®) between cuts, especially if you’re working on diseased or problem plants.
Remember: Pruning Stimulates Growth!
Mary recommended a few pruning reference books (see next posting). She says the Sunset Pruning Book is especially good (but is now out of print). Pruning and Training, published by the Royal Horticultural Society, is her favourite. She calls that one “the bible”.
Mary also teaches classes in pruning and she has sent along dates and registration info:
Langley Continuing Education
- Pruning the Right Way H127 $49.99 + $5 entry to Darts Hill. Saturday, January 31, 9:30am-3:30pm. Afternoon field trip to Darts Hill Garden in South Surrey.
Historic Stewart Farm (South Surrey) — Classes at the Historic Stewart Farm can be accessed on the City of Surrey website, the Langley Class on the Langley Continuing Education website.
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