Care for deciduous shrubs with careful pruning

Have you walked through your yard lately and wondered how those shrubs got so big?

Most deciduous landscape shrubs benefit from annual pruning. It keeps them in shape, gets rid of dead and diseased wood and encourages new growth. So sharpen those pruning tools.

Before pruning any shrub, observe the distinct and natural growth of the shrub.

There are three basic shrub forms: stiff upright or vase-shaped shrubs used as property dividers, such as lilacs and mock-orange; arching or weeping shrubs used as specimens or background shrubs, such as forsythias and beauty bush; and rounded or mounding shrubs used as accents or backgrounds for other plants, such as the burning bush or flowering quince.

The pruning recommended for most deciduous shrubs consists of thinning out, gradual renewal, and rejuvenation pruning.

In thinning out, a branch or twig is cut off either at its point of origin from the parent stem, to a lateral side branch, to a “Y” of a branch junction, or at ground level.

Thin out the oldest and tallest stems first, to allow for growth of vigorous side branches. This method of pruning results in a more open plant and does not stimulate excessive top growth.

Plants can be maintained at a given height and width for years by thinning out. This method of pruning is best done with pruning shears, loppers, or a saw (not hedge shears).

In gradual renewal pruning, a few of the oldest and tallest branches are removed at or slightly above ground level on an annual basis. Some thinning may be necessary to shorten long branches or to maintain a symmetrical shape.

To rejuvenate an old, overgrown shrub, one-third of the oldest, tallest branches can be removed at or slightly above ground level before new growth starts.

Spring and early summer flowering shrubs bloom on last season’s growth and should be pruned soon after they bloom. This allows for vigorous growth during the summer and provides flower buds for the following year. Examples are forsythia, lilac and spirea.

So get pruning! Your plants will thank you with outstanding beauty, great shape and good health.

This week in the garden

• Most plants are beginning to show life at this point. Be patient with those that don’t. They could just be a little slow in coming out.

• Protect any plants you buy out a greenhouse for a few days to let them acclimate. We seem to still be getting frost, and that can damage greenhouse-induced growth.

• Continue to move and divide mid- and late-summer perennials. They will settle back in and be ready to bloom later in the summer.

• Deadhead bulbs as they finish, but leave the foliage on for another six to eight weeks. Do not gather it up and tie it up to make it look neat. That interferes with food production.

• Continue adding compost and mulch to your garden to help with water retention later this summer.

• It is still a bit too cold for most herbicides to work properly, so go after early weeds with a cultivator. Chickweed and shotweed are blooming now and will quickly produce seeds.

• Aerate your lawn with a core aerator to allow air, water and nutrients to reach the grass roots. Most lawns in Spokane do not need thatching. It actually can do more damage to the lawn than good by tearing out grass plants and leaving the soil open to weeds because of too much light.

• Check on seedlings and transplant any that are getting crowded. When small plants get too crowded, they become stunted and don’t grow properly. If they are planted in this condition, they take a long time to recover and begin growing.

• Now is the best time to plant conifers and evergreens. Most of them are still dormant and will adapt to a new site more easily. Water all new plants during their first couple of years to give them a good start. This is in addition to water provided by a sprinkler system.