January 20 , 2022
Winter Pruning: When and How
Golly , here we go again , dropping 50 degrees in a few hour . When winter and leap - like temperatures intersect , what ’s the timeline to rationalise back native perennials , cold - tender summer drawers , evergreen plant bush , trees , and bunchgrasses like Lindheimer muhly?This calendar week , hostJohn Hart Ashersnips some pro advice with Julie Clark , founder of all - womenStronger Than Dirtgarden care . Gardeners always ask : “ What about xanthous doorbell ( Esperanza / Tecoma stans ) and Pride of Barbados ? ” Julie cuts these subtropical perennial back to the ground in January . Let ’s waitress until after the last frost date ( or at least mid - to - late March ) for canna , ginger , ligularia , and shrimp works ( still bloom after our first nips ) . One December on CTG ’s sojourn toDawn Houser ’s food forest and wildlife habitatin San Marcos , a hummingbird zoomed in on her shrimp flora . We can cut back lantanas now , but we can also wait , especially if they ’re still bloom to feed butterfly and other pollinators on ardent days . leave top growth ( specially on cold - tender plants ) can help protect etymon over winter , too . There are innumerable notion about pruning , since wildlife home ground factors into our esthetic and free time to square away up for spring ’s new ontogeny . Still , “ It ’s a lot easier to get your compost and your mulch laid down when you do n’t have to bestow spoon of mulch around big plant , ” Julie say . I have it away that from experience ! Plus , interfering landscape party like strong Than Dirt ca n’t adulterate things out for calendar week the elbow room we can ourselves . Definitely we can cut Turk ’s ceiling browned stalks to the ground . Some plants , like flaming acanthus , are merely woody sticks mighty now , so cut them to the earth . Shear back perennial like Zexmenia ( Wedelia acapulcensis ) and Copper Canyon daisy . If you ’ve underplanted with natural spring bulbs , you ’ll have a clean slate to watch their quickly emerge sprouts . With shrubby boneset ( lily-white Conoclinium coelestinum ) , I wish to hold back a few weeks , since seed heads feed modest birds . Then I cut it back to about 8 - 12 ” for a bushier shape and more heyday for next fall ’s pollinator , like this hoverfly . I like to hold off a few more weeks to cut perennials like systema skeletale - foliage golden-eyed fly daisy , since next frosts will brown them up again . We also do n’t require to push ontogeny while the atmospheric condition ’s so indecisive . I do n’t take this one down to the reason ; it ’s more like a serious haircut . Remove numb maturation and anatomy as you like . We can pruneSalvia greggiinow . Julie cuts back to 8 - 12 ” , again removing any dead growth . She also off branches that are pencil - dense ( or so ) all the means to the ground . Salvia greggiiblooms on unexampled growth , so a strong cut really makes a big deviation in just a few hebdomad . Yes , it ’s painful to cut away flowers if plants are blooming now , but pruning creates a bushier plant that ’s more attractive and floriferous down the road . My compromise is to leave some flowers and work around them for a week or two , but that ’s not always very practical .
Herbaceous sage like mealy blue sage , velvetySalvia leucantha , and others : curve to the ground any fourth dimension . Julie recommends cutting back pinkish skullcap to about 2 - 4 ” . In this garden , native white - flowering florescence gaura ( Oenothera lindheimeri ) blossom beyond . Cut it to the ground in mid - February . We can also reduce redolent asters down to the ground where new rosettes are already emerging . I do this step by step , too , since little skirt love those seed heads ! Plus , lizards and other lowly animal tuck in under them . This is an fantabulous time to move them . In fact , Julie take down that wintertime cleanup gives us a clear picture of what plants need cutting and what areas necessitate addition . Big greenback : Do keep them watered ! Julie and John Hart also advise lachrymation well before a freeze ( not sprinkling leaves in the halt , but watering the roots beforehand ) . Many areas are in dissipation watering averaging , so that ’s a fear , but moist soil helps insulate roots .
Do wait until March to prune evergreens like boxwood , dwarf yaupon , and others like silver germander , featured here inJulie Nelson and Kay Angermann ’s originative garden(taped fall 2019 ) . Its silvery leave of absence are so lovely against sky - spicy graphite . silvern germander could get snip off before winter ’s over , so it ’s honest to waitress to shape . you may cut back plumbago now , or bequeath for later . We also want to wait until strong weather to cut back leggy , skimpy cenizos ( Texas sage ) . Julie refresh them with difficult cuts , even into thick Ellen Price Wood . She spill a number about regenerative pruning : furbish up an unproductive or overgrown plant . “ We kind of combine regenerative pruning with our regular maintenance throughout the year , ” she observe . “ And so we do that variety of clarification as part of our winter cut back . So , for example , if it ’s already hang over your sidewalk in March , then you probably need to write out it back a little harder than you would if it ’s securely in its space in March and has way to grow . ”
If you ’ve got huge shrub covering window , the general prescript is to dress one - third of the total height at a time .
Julie and John Hart also look at methods for cutting back bunchgrasses like Gulf muhly and Lindheimer muhly , especially raking out old growth for light and air travel . you could cut them back now or allow to enjoy their morphologic sweetheart and wildlife home ground . But , it ’s a good theme to prune before new growth gets going . John Hart likes to leave inland sea oats until late February and then cut to the ground . Wait until March to mould and clip small decorative trees like anacacho orchid , bottlebrush , Cordia boissieri , and Barbados cherry red ( that ’s already browned on top in my garden . ) It always benefits from a full clipping anyway!Prune crepe myrtles in January and February . Since we could only touch on that , keep an eye on CTG ’s video withTrisha Shirey ’s crepe myrtle pruning demonstrationfrom a few years ago . If you could , expect until after flower to prune spring - blooming mountain laurels , Mexican plums , and redbuds . Prune shade trees now , but time is running out for springy oaks and reddish oaks . forfend clip them between February and June except for safety reasons and violent storm or other damage .
Since fruit Tree are an entire section on their own , determine CTG’s“Tools for Fruit Tree Pruning”and“Peach Tree Pruning”with Zach Halfin of Thigh High Gardens .
There are so many coolheaded tools out there , but the basics include paw pruning hook and pruner . shear are handy for Grass , and a landscape painting / tree surgeon hand saw comes in handy for larger branches . pruning hook , power saw , and shear come in many size and style . Did you know that Fiskars is a Finnish company ? My distant congener in Helsinki gifted me with these Fiskars pruner a few years back , and they ’ve put in more than a few busy hours!Julie and John Hart have lots more , so watch now !
And thanks for stopping by ! Linda
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