Understanding Winter Pruning
As the winter months roll in
people often wonder what their lawn maintenance company will be
doing for their yard during the off-season. I can tell you from
personal experience that it takes more effort to maintain a yard
during the winter months than the summer. Hard to believe? It’s
true enough that the grass does not grow, but weeds continue to
grow. Bushes, depending upon the type, needs some type of care,
and cleaning up leaves and branches takes three times longer to
remove than just cutting the grass. Some of the winter pruning
techniques are perennial flowers. Most summer blooming
perennials and flowers go dormant during the winter. Examples of
these are Lantana, Hydrangea, and ornamental grasses.
Lantana can often spread beyond it’s intended area. Winter time
is a great time to cut back your Lantana. You may even need to
cut it down to the stub if it is a mature plant that is
exceeding it’s intended boundaries in the summer. I often try to
leave enough nub showing so that once spring arrives I don’t
mistake it for a weed. The opposite side of this would be when I
have newly planted Lantana or perennials that have not fully
grown into the intended area. In this case no pruning would be
done and the plant would continue to grow in girth or width to
fill in the area.
Hydrangeas have the same tendency as
the Lantana. Over time they too outgrow their space and need to
be cut back being sure to leave a nub you can see in the spring
time. If you want it to continue to grow leave it alone or
lightly snip it on the ends to promote branching.
Ornamental grasses are a little more tricky. It’s been a long
tradition to cut back pampas grasses which usually provides
greener growth in the summer. This is especially true for wind
whipped or browned pampas grass. The problem is that when you
prune back a pampas grass you are actually cutting off the tips
that have the flower thus removing some winter color. I feel
that for small to medium size pampas grasses it is sometimes
best to leave them alone. If they are extremely large they do
need taming. We personally use a chain saw to prune them. In my
opinion, the smaller ornamental grasses such as Miscanthus,
Sweet Grass, Breeze Grass and Sea Oat should really never be cut
back as their tassels are the pretty winter flowers. Sweet Grass
in particular is so slow to recover that even years later you
can tell where it was pruned. The brownish foliage is part of
this type plant.
Evergreens and flowering shrubs:
flowering shrubs are getting ready to bloom within the next
three months and are creating the buds that will produce these
flowers. While pruning these shrubs will not keep them from
flowering (you may lose some of the intensity of the flowers).
Common varieties of this type plant are Azaleas and Camellias.
With non-flowering evergreens the winter time is a good time to
prune them 6-8” below where you want them to actually be. Then
when the new growth in the Spring comes out your plant will be
fuller, thicker and greener than it was the year prior. Even if
it looks branchy after the initial pruning. If you have any
pruning questions please feel free to contact me.
James
Parker
www.pleasantlandscapes.com
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