Late winter is a great time to prune, because the trees and shrubs are still dormant and you can clearly see the structure of the branches.
Late Winter Pruning
Sometime in the late winter, we get a chance to wander around the garden – albeit that some will still be in galoshes. This is a great time to assess the health and state of your shrubs and to think about late winter pruning. The individual branches and internal structure of deciduous shrubs is much easier to see in winter, than it is when leaves and blooms cover the shrub. There are several basic steps to pruning shrubs.
- Dead Branches: This is sometimes difficult to assess, but in some cases the dead branches will have been apparent last season. Look for branches that snap off easily or that have been broken off by wind and stormy winter weather. Making a sharp clean cut will be beneficial to the shrub.
- Crossed Branches: These branches are growing into the internal structure of the shrub or tree and will eventually butt against another branch. The junction where they join can gather moisture and decay. There is also a tendency for the limbs to grow together, which is not healthy for trees. Internal branches also fill the structure of a tree or shrub and inhibit the flow of air as well as reduce light. This in turn can create a perfect atmosphere for fungi to grow.
- Poorly Placed Branches: Trees and shrubs are part of your landscape as a whole, and thus may need to be pruned to accommodate the needs of another item. Branches that hang over a footpath or doorway impede progress along the path, or through the door. Likewise branches over a pond will drop unwanted leaves into the pond at year’s end. This is detrimental to fish and other water life.
- Out of alignment Branches: trees and shrubs have an overall structure that can be marred by the occasional wayward branch. Just as some branches grow into the shrub’s structure, some also grow too far out and spoil the overall shape of the shrub.
All these problems will be apparent in late winter and can be corrected without tangling with excess growth in spring or summer. Late winter pruning should be completed before the new growth cycle begins, but not when very cold weather is still around. This will vary from late January in the south to possibly as late as March or even April in the northern states. Whenever you choose to do late winter pruning, it will be one of the first gardening jobs of the year, and generally a very welcome one
