Imagine it’s April, and instead of a dense thicket of overgrown plants, your yard has already been pruned. You will have a sense of relief that your plants can send out their new spring leaves that are allowed to grow unblemished.
Do your major pruning in winter, and you can relax and enjoy the spring. The secret to winter pruning is that you can cut the plants below their desired height, and let the new growth fill in. For example, when pruning a shrub that will send out 8” to 12” of growth in the spring, reach inside the plant and cut branches down at different levels, ranging from 6” to 18”. Keep in mind that new growth will occur at each cut.
Natural pruning is done by hand, not the “one size fits all” pruning done with power trimmers. This type of trimming only reaches the outside of the plants; it slices the foliage and leaves the plant’s interior dense and leafless. By reaching inside the plants with hand pruners, branches can be thinned out selectively and the plants will be reshaped.
Above all, winter pruning will extend the life of your plants by decades, by eliminating constant leaf slicing, and hollow interiors.
