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By ANNE LENOX BARLOW, Cornell Co-op Extension
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As I am writing this, I am jealous of anyone who can be outside right now.
After a cool, rainy summer, it looks like September will provide us with beautiful weather. Warm, sunny days and cool evenings are just the type of weather that gets me motivated to get out into the gardens. When my family and I moved this summer, we gained some beautiful gardens and plants. We also inherited some overgrown shrubs and trees in need of a good pruning. I feel like these days would be perfect to go out and start pruning away since its not raining nor is it too warm. But I know that now is not the time to go prune my trees and shrubs.
BEWARE OF
QUICK FREEZE
We often think of pruning as a technique used to keep trees and shrubs small or to contain growth, but it actually stimulates a plant to expand. Twiggy growth results from pruning while a plant is still growing. Think about it. When you go prune your bush, it becomes bushier. This is the reason why I cannot go tackle my overgrown trees and shrubs during our beautiful fall days. While the air right now is nice, it will all too soon be icy cold. Any new growth stimulated from a pruning is susceptible to a quick freeze.
Not only will a quick freeze kill the young growth, but that cold injury can travel down the stem, opening up the tree or shrub to winter kill, rot or insect attack. Therefore, it is best to wait until the shrub or tree is dormant or actively growing before attacking it with pruners and shears.
The best rule of thumb for pruning is to do so in late winter or early spring before the new growth starts for any summer flowering trees or shrubs that bloom after June 1. Plants that bloom before June 1 should be pruned after they finish flowering in late spring or early summer.
The reason to prune summer flowering plants prior to their bloom is these plants bloom on new growth, which is stimulated by the cutback, resulting in more flowers. Examples of these shrubs include Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), Japanese spirea (Spiraea japonica) and Rose-of-Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus).
Plants that bloom before June 1 often set their flower buds on growth from the previous summer. If you prune them in late winter or early spring, you cut off the flower buds waiting to burst forth. There are many trees and shrubs that fall into this category. Some of the more common ones include azalea (Rhododendron spp.), flowering almond (Prunus spp.), forsythia, weigela (Weigela florida), crabapple (Malus spp.), Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana), dogwood (Cornus spp.), flowering cherry (Prunus serrulata), lilac (Syringa vulgaris); and redbud (Cercis spp.).
WAIT FOR DORMANCY
At least one of my trees needs some major cuts to remove some of the branches touching the roof of the house. Even though I cringe thinking about the possible damage these limbs could cause, I will wait until the tree is dormant this winter to do the work. Dormant trees recover faster from major cuts. Cutting during the late winter or early spring also allows you to see the structure of the tree or shrub, which can make for better decisions on which limbs to remove.
While I wait for the right time to prune, I know that there is still plenty to keep me busy this fall — weeding, planting spring bulbs and garlic, watering my trees and shrubs until the ground freezes, and, before it gets too late, providing my lawn with a high nitrogen fertilizer.
Anne Lenox Barlow is the horticulture educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Clinton County. Office phone numbers: Clinton County 561-7450, Essex County 962-4810, Franklin County 483-7403. E-mail questions to: askMG@cornell.edu.
