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01-14-2019 11:55 AM
As the seasons change, soon (or even now in some areas), we are about to prune those trees or shrubs that need some shaping.
Do you have favorite ones you've done yourself and that you're particularly happy with how they turned out?
Any before-and-after pics you would like to share?
I'll shortly (after it blooms in spring) be pruning this fringe plant (Loropetalum chinense) to thin it out and will post the after pics if all goes well.
Looking forward to seeing your pruning efforts, too!
01-14-2019 12:01 PM
My bountiful Meyer lemon tree desperately needs pruning. All of the fall harvest has been picked and shared with a large box of lemons for us waiting to be squeezed and frozen into ice cubes. I love this tree and want to be so careful trimming the branches. I am going to make it more symmetrical so certain branches are not so burdened under the weight of the lemons. My husband had to take rope and tie a few branches to the fence this year as they were so heavy laden with fruit.
01-14-2019 01:26 PM
It's too soon to think about it here...we have snow on the ground.
I got a compliment on my Rhodes a while ago. A neighbor asked how I keep mine looking so good and beautifully shaped. They are teaming with buds for this spring. I guess I did something right. I prune them right after they bloom.
I can wait for the weather to warm up. It was 17 degrees this morning when I walked my dogs.
01-14-2019 02:29 PM
I have some Abelia shrubs that have to be pruned. They have little white shaped trumpet flowers on them. They smell so good in the summer when it's hot. You can smell them as you walk up to the front porch.
Wish I could make some perfume with the flowers.
It gets pruned in the fall after it has stopped flowering. We also prune back some long shoots throughout the year when they get out of hand.
I don't know if I have any pics of them or not but it looks like the below pic.
01-14-2019 03:49 PM - edited 01-14-2019 03:50 PM
@GingerPeach, we are a long way from pruning here in zone 5. I like this job though...
This juniper had seriously outgrown it’s location. This is a pruning process that will take years to perfect. I have a friend who showed me how to begin shaping it to keep it in it’s location. The only other alternative would have been to take it out.
It it will be awhile until we are in the garden again. I am enjoying the down time. LM
01-14-2019 03:55 PM
@Nightowlz wrote:I have some Abelia shrubs that have to be pruned. They have little white shaped trumpet flowers on them. They smell so good in the summer when it's hot. You can smell them as you walk up to the front porch.
Wish I could make some perfume with the flowers.
It gets pruned in the fall after it has stopped flowering. We also prune back some long shoots throughout the year when they get out of hand.
I don't know if I have any pics of them or not but it looks like the below pic.
I adore abelias, @Nightowlz
We have some in my community, but the clueless gardeners always shear them into balls. It's pretty ridiculous when the plant is crying out to be showing off its gorgeous blooms on those lovely long, arching stems.
I keep telling them to cut some stems close to the ground so it can "reboot" itself but they continue to take the easy way out.
01-15-2019 11:23 AM
I like abelia too! Had a type called ‘Edward Goucher’. It is deciduous in our area after the fall.
We replaced them with evergreen (by us) viburnums called Burkwood ‘Conoy’. If you live in NE state, this variety is deciduous.
01-15-2019 11:28 AM
@Lilysmom Keeping that juniper in bounds is going to be tough because you can’t prune to bare wood. Those plants do not grow new leaves(needles) on bare areas. You may want to research for small sized junipers to replace it.
I also let my abelias ‘arch’ when I had them. I also don’t believe in pruning azaleas & junipers to be shaped into ‘green meatballs’.
Regarding pruning, I usually prune after plants bloom, but on some I prune in mid spring before the summer comes on. Hydrangeas that I own get pruned in spring after they leaf out so I can see where to remove dead stems. Same with weigela.
01-15-2019 11:51 AM
If you could only see a progression of these shrubs from when we bought the house to now. When we bought it, they were small and below the windows. A few years later as they got bigger I decided to "poodle" them and remove the shrubbery surrounding them. Then they ended up all the way into the gutters and it got to the point that I couldn't trim them even on a ladder. For a few years I hired a guy to do it, but he quit coming once he built his business up and apparently no longer needed mine. Then, I cut them waaay back to bare stems. I literally climbed into a couple of them with a saw to cut some of the branches down. I now try to keep them where I can trim them on my little 3-step kitchen ladder, but I may soon have to do another major hack on a couple of them. It's a big job that I dread every year. This picture is from 2017 mid-process. BTW, can I just say I wish these boards would just automatically adjust the image size.
01-15-2019 04:18 PM
@JustJazzmom, my friend has done a lovely job of pruning his junipers. They are bonsai shaped and pleasing to the eye. He has been doing it for years. He has helped me shape mine.
I have done three. One was a complete failure so I took it out. The other two are a work in progress. I am happy with them so far. If they get to the point where they are not pleasing to my eye, I won’t hesitate to remove them.
I am enjoying the rest from gardening and doing a major job on closets and other storage areas. Purge is the word of the month. January is a good time to do it! LM
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