TIME TO FINISH up our short course on pruning and go out and tackle your orchards and yard. Today is the start of early-mid-winter and, with this beginning, let us start on pruning your entire yard.
We will go through some essential information on pruning and, of course, some sure-fire tricks to achieve botanical wonders.
But I want to finish by laying down some quick short tenants in pruning as I see it.
1. Have confidence! Don’t be afraid to cut away. I believe the No. 1 reason for poor pruning results is the inability of many people to cut away vast hunks of the plant, especially if that plant has new buds or flowers coming on it.
The roses are sometimes too tall, and I’m sure it is because, at any given time, new buds were coming on and folks just can’t bring themselves to remove flowers. As we have learned, certain plants (rose is one) should be in a constant state of being pruned low after individual stalks flower. Gardening isn’t always pretty — so be prepared to cut 30 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent or more of certain plants away. Remember it is good for the plants.
2. Learn to see the inner plant. I know this may seem slightly corny, but I never ever prune any plant without first in my mind’s eye seeing the finished plant. There is a perfect place to prune each plant for the ideal results you want to achieve.
Com-bined with that thought is the fact that many plants have interior layers, and pruning along these lines give the plant a natural instead of butchered look. Plants have stems or branches that must be cut out, regardless, because they are either old (lilacs, roses, dogwoods), they cross over other branches (apples, cherries, magnolias), they are sucker shoots all (fruit trees, plums, cherries, contorted filberts), or they are just plain out of the perfect shape (weeping birch, maple, anything evergreen).
So before one begins to prune, you must step back, look carefully at the surgery (really, a haircut) and see the finished inner plant waiting to be set free.
3. Every cut must have a reason. This is the quintessential essence of pruning. Plant butchery is when you take shears, a hedge saw, chainsaw, ax or loppers, and just hack away at a certain amount of feet because the view or window or path or house just happens to be there.
Pruning is when I step back, think about how the growth will occur from your pruning (all pruning stimulates), then calculate the length of growth until the next pruning.
I look at the plant carefully to see the inner finished structure, move back in, selecting each cut at the exact spot it needs to be made for the finished look.
Now here comes the two most important rules in pruning technique. First, always prune on a node. A node is that critical area on any stem where a branch bud or leaf originates. There does not have to be a leaf present (leaf scar). A node shows itself as a distinct mark on the stem or branch. Pruning at this point will be the healthiest and most advantageous spot to cut the plant.
Next, and so important — the majority of the new growth will occur at the point of this cut and will be at the direction of that node or last branch. Please visualize that new future growth.
And please … visualize staying well!
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Andrew May is a freelance writer and ornamental horticulturist who dreams of having Clallam and Jefferson counties nationally recognized as “Flower Peninsula USA.” Send him questions c/o Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362, or email news@peninsuladailynews.com (subject line: Andrew May).
