What To Prune & When

For many of us, cutting back plants is more about controlling the foliage and creating more space in the garden than it is about precise pruning. However, most plants really benefit from regular pruning and maintenance. But what do you prune, and when?

Why Prune?

Pruning plants and trees is a good way to keep them shapely and to encourage new growth. Ideally, when you buy a plant, you'll have a plant label to refer to. This should give you some general information about when and how much to prune. Never throw these labels away - if you don't keep them attached to the plants themselves, keep them in a box in the shed or in a drawer indoors.

But what if you've just bought a new home and inherited a mature garden with it? Or if you're a gardening beginner, how do you know where to start, especially if they don't know the plants' names and can't easily refer to them in garden encyclopaedias or on websites such as at the RHS's Plant Selector?

Pruning at the wrong time of year needn't be a disaster and won't hurt the plant in the long run - unless you prune very late in the season and encourage tender, new growth that will be killed off by winter weather - but it might well mean fewer flowers and fruits for the following season.

The General Rules Of Pruning

Before you start pruning indiscriminately, it's worth making the effort to identify the unknown plants, shrubs or trees in your garden. This might mean spending a sunny afternoon outside with a plant book on your lap; it might mean inviting a knowledgeable friend round to help you work out what's what. However, if you really can't pinpoint what you've got, there are some general rules which you can apply.

For instance, many flowering and fruiting plants prefer to be pruned between late winter and early spring while they are dormant. Some, such as spring blooming trees and shrubs, will start setting new buds as soon as the old ones have fallen, and these will need to be pruned shortly after flowering, or you risk pruning off the new buds with the old. Other plants like to be pruned and deadheaded constantly, to remain vigorous and in flower. However, these general rules don't apply to every plant - typically, there are many exceptions. You can identify your plant on the RHS Plant Selector.