Davis: Don’t break out pruning shears yet | Lifestyle
As winter approaches, the days get shorter. As the days get shorter, the number of hours of daylight we have to work outside is reduced.
And I get calls to cut trees and bushes.
In general, the dead of winter is a good time to prune or prune most of the trees and shrubs. They are at rest and are coping well with pruning.
If you’re itching to start now, I recommend that you wait a little longer. These last autumn days give our perennials time to store reserves in their roots. This energy storage will make them stand out in the coming spring.
I usually encourage people to wait until after the holidays before making a heavy cut. Heavy pruning can be defined as pruning back more than a third of a plant.
Caretakers usually trim perennials by a third during the growing season. Many flowering plants bloom wonderfully all summer long with a light coating. This easy cut has no adverse effects unless you do so during times of great constraints – such as in the middle of a drought.
The winter pruning of most shrubs, such as roses, can be pruned at any time in winter, according to the regionally known gardener Felder Rushing. In Rushing’s excellent book, Tough Plants for Southern Gardens, he says that there really are no one-size-fits-all rules when it comes to pruning roses. He says to forget about any specific rules you might have heard over the years and just cut back all stems of repetitive flowering strains in half.
When it comes to landscaped trees, Dallas gardener Neil Sperry says, “No plant needs pruning.” A plant will grow naturally as long as it has water, sunlight and nutrients.
We cut back trees and bushes because a branch is in our way or we simply want a certain shape or increased fruit production.
So what about the crepe myrtle? I am starting this discussion with caution as this is more problematic in some circles than religion or politics.
Crepe myrtles are beautiful plants that can be categorized as large shrubs or small trees. Many standard varieties can grow to be 20 feet, 25 feet, or even 30 feet tall. If you want a smaller variety, there are dwarf types that only grow up to four feet and even miniatures that stop at a height of one to two feet.
That said, crepe myrtles can handle a heavy cut better than perhaps any other small tree. Some have taken large loppers or chainsaws and removed large chunks from the trunk of a mature crepe myrtle with the perfect number of stems and a beautiful vase-shaped canopy that bloomed every summer. They struggled to survive; however, she sent several suckers which sprout and actually bloomed the following summer.
Fruit trees will certainly produce larger fruit when pruned later this winter. Unlike roses or other ornamental trees, fruit-bearing trees have specific schedules and pruning guidelines that you should follow. Fruit owners can find out more about cutting techniques in several places, including my favorite garden site: aggie-horticluture.tamu.edu.
Peach trees are prime examples of how a particular technique can produce an abundance of high quality fruit.
So, enjoy the upcoming holidays. Give yourself (and your landscape) a little more time before you break out the pruning shears and secateurs.
– Shaniqua Davis is the Agriculture and Natural Resource Expansion Agent for Gregg County. Email: Shaniqua.Davis@ag.tamu.edu.
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