Tools and Techniques for Pruning this Fall

Remember that the bones of your garden - the permanent plants that give it structure year-round - need to be tamed from time to time. Pruning this time of year can be rewarding and is essential to the overall health of your plants.

It has been my experience that most people are too timid when pruning permanent, woody plants, and as a result they do not remove enough branches and stems for fear of causing damage. Often I find new gardeners hesitant to prune and I assure them they can remove up to one third of the growth of a woody shrub without affecting the plant.

How you prune your shrub is of greater importance than how much you remove. I am not in favour of the bowl cut - where the shrub is sculpted into a formal round ball, square or oval shape - and thankfully I see less of this in landscapes. The practice of pruning by reaching into the centre of the plant with a gloved hand and sharp hand pruners to remove select branches one at a time is more effective. This opens up the shrub to sunlight and improves the air circulation. The new growth from the centre of the plant will rejuvenate and encourage new blossom buds to develop. Hand pruning takes more time than a bowl cut, but the results are more satisfying and the health benefits for the plants are greater.

Pruning Tools
As with most jobs, the quality of your work is determined by the quality of your tools. I am a firm believer in investing in quality garden tools and in caring for them properly to protect the premium paid. Always make sure the tools are kept sharp and clean, and store them indoors. If you are removing diseased portions of a plant, be sure to dip your pruning tool into a bleach solution (one part bleach to 20 parts water) after each cut.

Hand and tree pruners
Bypass pruners make a clean cut using two curved blades that bypass each other, similar to a pair of scissors. The outside edge of one blade is sharpened and it slips by a thicker unsharpened blade.
• bypass pruner and sharpener set 5067-220
• 12' telescopic tree pruner 5067-312

Shears
To sharpen grass or hedge shears, I start with a new bastard file and finish with a high carbon steel sharpener or sharpening stone with oil. Lubricate the hinged joint and sharpen the blades after each use.
• 9" hedge shears 5067-722

Pruning saws
A good quality green wood saw has teeth arranged to cut on both the back and fore strokes.
• 10" X-Tend-A folding pruning saw 5064-351
• 8" folding pruning saw 5064-350

Loppers
Anvil loppers have a single straight cutting blade that closes down on a flat edge or anvil, similar to a knife against a cutting board. Used to cut limbs from trees, loppers need to be lubricated and cleaned after each use.
• telescopic ratchet jumbo anvil lopper 5067-964

Pruning trees
Shade trees are generally best left to grow and mature into the space provided, but it is wise to remove branches that are heading in the wrong direction.

When pruning deciduous trees, look for a node where one branch meets another and remove the weaker of the two. If a tree is forked along the trunk, keep either the stronger or the straighter branch. You'll learn that pruning is part science and part art.

Cut suckers from the bottom of tree trunks and root zones as these simply suck energy from the roots. Fewer suckers make for a greater canopy.

Pruning evergreens
Fall is the perfect time of year to prune evergreens by removing as much new growth as necessary to make them look attractive. Cedar hedges, boxwood and yews prune up nicely this time of year. With six more weeks of warm, sunny weather, these evergreens will produce a short, soft flush of growth for an attractive look all winter long.

Pine, spruce and fir produced a candle of new growth in May/June that has since developed into needles. If you are happy with the size and shape of the plant then there is no need to prune this fall. Next spring when the candles develop, you can cut them in half for a fuller look.

Pruning perennials and flowering shrubs
Remove the spent flowers and several inches of flower stems from perennials that have finished flowering. Do not cut them down to the ground because with some luck you will get a re-flowering period later in the season. I leave late flowering perennials (mums, asters and rudebeckia) standing all winter long to add interest and to provide seeds for songbirds. Ornamental grasses are best cut down in April.

Pruning roses
I remove the spent flowers and a few inches of stem starting in June. After a second showing of blossoms have finished flowering in September, I let the plants stand over the winter. Tall plants are cut to about 30" (80 cm) in height to prevent them from whipping in winter winds and risking a break at the root zone.