When Should you Prune Your Shrubs?

Winter is one of the best times to prune your shrubs. With sap flow slowed and plants fully dormant, you avoid unnecessary energy loss and reduce the risk of attracting insects or disease. The frozen ground and lack of leaves also make the job cleaner with less mess and less impact on turf.

Proper pruning plays a major role in keeping your shrubs healthy, attractive, and long-lasting. Thoughtful pruning helps maintain natural shape, remove problem branches, promote flowers and fruit, and encourage strong new growth.

For most deciduous shrubs, the ideal time to prune is during the dormant season before new growth begins. Spring-flowering shrubs like lilac and forsythia are the exception. These should be pruned right after they bloom so you do not remove next year’s flower buds. Shrubs that bloom after late June form their buds in spring, so they can be pruned in winter or early spring. Rose-of-Sharon is a good example of a shrub that blooms on new growth.

When pruning, focus on thinning rather than shearing. Thinning maintains the natural look of the plant, prevents dense buildup at the top, and allows light to reach the interior. This is done by cutting branches back to where they join a main stem or to an outward-facing bud. Shearing, on the other hand, creates dense outer growth that eventually shades and weakens the plant, leaving it bare and spindly inside.

Older shrubs that have become too large or filled with unproductive wood can be rejuvenated. This is done by removing the oldest stems at the base and allowing younger shoots to take over. If the plant has very few young stems, rejuvenation can be spread out over three years to maintain shape. Fast-growing shrubs like spirea, viburnum, honeysuckle, weigela, and forsythia often benefit from this approach. In some cases, severely overgrown plants can be cut back to the ground, though they may need a year or more before blooming again.

If you need help pruning or caring for your landscape, the team at Jensen Gardens is here to help. Let us keep your shrubs healthy and beautiful year after year.

Source: Extension is a Division of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln cooperating with the Counties and the United States Department of Agriculture