| Tools for pruning | Four tools are essential for pruning. All of them should be kept sharp and clean to ensure clean cuts and prevent the spread of diseases from one shrub to another. When selecting pruning tools, buy the best that you can afford. We have steel pruning tools made by quality manufacturers.
Hand pruners (not pictured) will make the closest and cleanest cuts and will usually cut up to 3/4 to 1inch.
Lopping shears (pictured at left in photo) are used for cutting larger branches, branches above your reach, or branches on the inside of a shrub. A good pair will cut branches up to 1 ¼ inches thick.
Pruning shears (pictured center in photo) are like big scissors, and are used to shear shrubs or hedges Pruning saws (pictured right in photo) are used for cutting heavier branches, or branches in the center of a dense shrub that you cannot reach with the loppers without damaging other branches.
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| Terminology of pruning |
Here are the terms to know when pruning:
Heading back is cutting branches back to within one-quarter inch of a bud. This technique produces a more bushy appearance as the shrub fills out after pruning. When Heading cuts should be made at a 45 degree angle away from the bud, at one-quarter inch above the bud.  Thinning is the complete removal of branches to their source (another stem, a trunk or the ground). Thinning gives a shrub a more open appearance, lets light into the inner part of the shrub and stimulates growth throughout the plant. If you have shrubs that look fine on the outside but all woody when you peer inside, they need thinning! Shaping is a technique that combines heading and thinning to give a shrub a certain shape and size. It is most often used to keep shrubs a certain size. Basic pruning techniques are used for shaping, but each shrub is somewhat different depending on how the shrub grows. That's why knowing what your shrub is (or looking it up) and observing how it grows are so important before you start. Shearing refers to cutting back branches around the outside of a shrub, usually with clippers, to keep the plant in form. It is an important technique for keeping hedges and other shrubs neat looking, but when done repeatedly without also thinning, it contributes to dead wood in the center of the shrub. Pinching back is a technique used to keep plants and shrubs bushy by removing the terminal (or tip) bud on the plant. It is used for shrubs and for other plants like Chrysanthemums that you want to be bushy with many blooms. Pinching requires no tools but your own fingers. |
| In Our Next Issue |
Harvesting herbs and vegetables
Recipes for graden fresh meals
Insects in the garden
and more!
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| Featured Plant: Perennial Geranium |
Photo courtesy of Northscaping.com |
Our featured plant is the hardy geranium, with over 200 varieties in all. This versatile perennial flowers in pinks, white, and blues. They have mostly green leaves, but some are very dark, almost black. Perennial geraniums also provide great fall color in the garden. Their foliage turns a striking dark red/orange.
Geraniums are incredibly versatile and easy to grow. They are great for rock gardens, borders, and as a ground cover. Some have small leaves and tiny flowers. Others form a larger mound or have a spreading habit. Native varieties are suited to a woodland habitat.
We have many in the garden center for purchase now, including Max Frei, Rozanne (Perennial of the Year in 2008),
Johnson's Blue, Striatum, Biokovo, Brookside, the native variety Geranium maculatum, and more. |
| Look before you prune |
This issue of Seasonal Solutions is about pruning. You'll find information about the tools, techniques and terminology of pruning. But first - let's talk about the most important step before you start to prune - becoming familiar with your shrubs.
Pruning requires care and an interest in how the shrub will look when you are done. How does it look now? What do you want to achieve with pruning? How do you want it to look when you are done? Think about these questions and make sure you really know your shrub before you start. Observation will make all the difference.
Pruning done at the right time and in the right way actually helps shrubs grow by stimulating the movement of nutrients in the plant. It's not done just to make a shrub smaller. It is also done to rejuvenate growth, change the shape, remove dead wood and the risk of pest infestation, stimulate flowering or even reduce flowering and stimulate foliage growth. |
| When pruning-- timing is everything | It's critically important to know when to prune. General rules are:
Prune early blooming shrubs immediately after they finish blooming: * Azalea & Rhododendron * Lilacs * Serviceberry * Magnolia Shrubs grown primarily for foliage rather than flowers should be pruned in late winter before growth begins: * Alpine Currant * Dogwood * Burning Bush * Smokebush * Ninebark * Honeysuckle Shrubs that can be pruned throughout growing season:
* Spirea - After first bloom, will re-bloom
* Weigela - After first bloom, will re-bloom
* Potentilla - After first bloom, will re-bloom
* Rose of Sharon - After first bloom, will re-bloom
Before you prune any tree, shrub or perennial, it is a good idea to look up specific information about how to prune that specific plant to maximize its growth and maintain its health. |
| Pruning 101 -- Basic techniques for shaping |
The first thing to know about pruning is how to cut. Use sharp, clean tools so that each cut will be clean and will not tear the branch. Tears, or wounds, will invite insects and increase the potential for infestation. After each shrub, wipe your tools with disinfectant wipes to reduce the possibility of transferring any disease from one shrub to another in the pruning process. 
The basic pruning sequence is as follows, for shaping a shrub:
Clean up the area around your shrub before you start to remove any debris and disease. Cut off dead branches as part of this clean-up. Now you can step back and look at your shrub with a pruner's eye! Look at the structure of the shrub and note how it grows (individual branches from the ground like forsythia, lateral branches from a single or multiple trunks like viburnum, etc.) Next follow these steps: If you want a more open look to your shrub, remove all criss-crossed branches on the outside of the shrub at this point. If you want a compact bush, skip this step and go to the next step. Use pruning shears to head back the branches on the outside of the shrub to the approximate contour you want. Use your loppers or hand saw to thin the shrub. Remove branches growing along the ground and at least one-third of the large, old branches in the center of the shrub. These should all be removed at ground level. Continue thinning by looking at the inside of the shrub for other damaged branches that need to be cut away. You will use your loppers or hand shears depending on space and size of the branch. Complete thinning by looking carefully inside your shrub and cutting to eliminate criss-crossed branches. When deciding which branch to cut, remove the one that looks least healthy or the one growing in the lease desirable direction for the growth you want. How you cut will depend on two things: the growth pattern of the shrub and the look you want - either dense and compact or open. |
| In the edible garden | It's pumpkin planting time!
 We still have pumpkin plants. And we also have seeds for giant pumpkins, jack-o-lantern or field pumpkins and miniatures. You can still seed directly in the garden for jack-o-lanterns and miniatures if you wish, but setting out plants for the giant varieties will be a necessity by now, in order to achieve the size you want by October.
Plant widely apart and mulch the areas between plants to provide a relatively dry area for the vines to grow.
Pumpkin fruits form at the base of female flowers. After they are pollinated the flower dies and the fruit continues to grow. Watch the vines carefully to avoid tears or nicks. The vine carries water and nutrients to that growing fruit!
Pumpkin vines are tender perennials and will need protection from frost and cold, both in spring and in fall. |
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