Pruning is an ongoing garden task. It gets less confusing and intimidating the more you do it.
Most plants benefit from some sort of regular pruning and maintenance. It keeps them healthy and encourages fresh, new growth. The trick is in knowing when to prune what. While early spring is ideal for finishing off bush roses and pruning climbing and repeat-flowering shrub roses, later in spring, deal with spring-flowering plants and frost-vulnerable, late-flowering shrubs, shrubby herbs, and perennials. Many plants should be pruned in spring, including lavender, buddleia and ornamental grasses. Pruning in spring makes way for more growth and helps to encourage more flowers, foliage and colorful stems on a wide range of plants. Some spring-flowering shrubs flower on old branches and if left unpruned will turn into a jumbled mess, with new growth made only at the top of the shrub. Unlike buddleias and fuchsias, which flower on the same year’s growth and can be pruned almost to ground level, shrubs such as forsythia need careful treatment. Spring pruning also means you can ensure your shrub has a nice shape, while giving you the opportunity to cut out dead, diseased or dying stems. After pruning, mulch plants with a generous layer of garden compost or well-rotted manure, to give them a boost. Find out which plants should be pruned in spring.