Landscape tips to help keep your tree and ornamental shrubs in top form
Pruning
Made correctly, pruning encourages thicker foliage, bigger fruits, more flowers and a hardier plant.
Pruning should be part of your annual spring maintenance and the cuts will be minimal. If you don't take care of this, you'll find yourself with overgrown, woody stemed shrubs.
Types of cuts
There are 2 basic types of prunning cuts. Heading and thinning type cuts. Heading cuts remove only part of a stem or limb and encourages side branching and denser growth. The cut should be made just beyond a healthy bud and angled at about a 45 degree angle and facing away from the bud. This forces the new shoot in the direction the bud is pointing.
Thinning cuts
This is the removal of entire branches where it meets another one or from the main trunk. The cut should be made as close to this junction as possible. These cuts open up interior branches to light and air and encourages new productive growth.
For flowering shrubs, timing is critical. Summer-flowering shrubs should be clipped in early spring while they're still dormant and buds haven't formed. Spring-flowering shrubs should be clipped after they bloom. It's usually safe to prune after the flowers have turned brown.
TIP: For lopsided ornamental shrubs
Cut back the less vigorous side severely while it's still in its dormant stage. Don't cut the bushier side. This will encourage additional new growth on that side where it's needed most.
Montana Landscape Management helps take the guess work out of what to do for your lawn and landscape. Our trainined professionals will apply the propert treatments needed to keep your trees and shrubs healthy and give you seasonal care tips.
