Ornamental shrubs and their pruning. How to update plants

Land owners, especially beginners, usually pay a lot of attention to the nutritional value and composition of the soil, fertilizing and watering. And, unfortunately, people often forget about pruning bushes. Some even believe that it is not needed at all. However, over time, when the bushes gain strength and grow many additional branches, the understanding comes that pruning is simply necessary.

There is often a lack of knowledge on the peculiarities of pruning ornamental shrubs. How to cut, when and how much? There are a huge number of plants, and they are all so different... At some point it may seem that you will never master this wisdom. Don’t worry, our issue will help both novice gardeners and experienced garden owners take a fresh look at the need to form a crown, learn pruning techniques and learn about its intricacies for various types of plants.

Do shrubs need to be trimmed?

The answer is clear: not only necessary, even necessary. Pruning greatly affects all life processes of the bush. However, the main principle in this matter is to do no harm. And when starting work, you should clearly understand what you will cut and why. First of all, this procedure will help improve the health of the plants - this type of pruning is called sanitary pruning. Pruning is also necessary to regulate growth, as well as for fruit formation.

Moreover, there are many techniques to achieve desired result. Intervention in crown growth is simply necessary to rejuvenate shrubs. No matter how much we maintain the bush in good condition, all plants age, their beauty and shape are lost, and development slows down.

And if everything is done correctly, it will help restore the former appearance of your favorite variety of lilac, mock orange, spirea... The aesthetic side of this matter is also important. Trimming the crown will give the plant required size and the shape of the crown, sometimes completely far from natural. This type of pruning is called topiary art. And every gardener can master the simplest techniques. Such pruning often needs to be started from the first days of a plant’s life in the garden in order to “accustom” it to constant pruning, and not shock it, because this can destroy the bush. In the future, the shape is maintained so that the plant retains its “hairstyle”. Otherwise, it will strive to return its natural appearance. However, after intervention, this plant will not succeed fully.

Trimming: terms

Cutting or thinning.

This is the complete removal of a branch or shoot. For shrubs, branches are removed as close to the soil surface as possible or even below its level. Small branches are cut out with pruning shears, large ones are sawed out.

Trimming for translation.

This technique is used on perennial wood. On the shoot, a suitable branch is selected - younger and directed in the right direction. The cut is made without stumps.

Trimming or shortening.

When pruning, the length of a branch or shoot is reduced. It is needed to stimulate branching. The stronger the shortening, the more new shoots are formed later. One-year growth is cut to a bud directed in the desired direction.

How to trim and shape the crown - some subtleties

Pruning any shrub helps to emphasize its advantages, individuality, and make it more expressive and tidy. Remember the main points.

The shoots that will make up the bush have young plant appear from buds located on the basal part of the stem. Therefore, when planting a seedling (it doesn’t matter whether it’s one-, two-, or three-year-old), the root collar should be deepened by about 5-8 cm.

Most shrubs are characterized by vigorous growth. The height of adult plants can be more than 2 m (viburnum), and sometimes even 5 m (irga). And so that they begin to bush, their shoots are shortened when planting. The longest and most well-developed branches are approximately equal in length to the rest. Broken ones are cut to the first normal bud, and sick and weak ones are cut out completely.

If you see that the shoot has not matured by the end of the season, it is better to cut it back to the mature part of the wood in the fall. Otherwise, in winter it will most likely freeze. If in doubt, you can leave the shoot over the winter and in the spring cut out the part on which the buds have not blossomed (the dead tip).

Seedlings of low shrubs (the height of adult specimens is up to 1.5 m) are pruned immediately after planting so that only stumps with two or three buds remain from each shoot. In the spring, strong shoots sprouted from them will develop well and will help the plant grow its root system faster. If you do not prune, from each awakened bud only a shoot of small length and thickness will grow, since root system The seedling is not yet sufficiently developed.

It is also important to act according to the situation

Shrubs need to be trimmed annually. If you do this from time to time, haphazardly, the crown will thicken greatly. Pests love to settle in such a place, and diseases will more often affect shrubs.

If the bush is already neglected, but you don’t want to throw it away, you can try to improve its crown. Of course, in such a situation you will have to remove many shoots.

It is important to do this not in one year - take pity on the plant and spread the work over two, or better yet, three seasons. And you shouldn’t expect excellent results right away, and such pruning will never fully compensate for the shortcomings of care.

In the practice of many gardeners, there is a common mistake - to wait until the plant becomes mature. And only then do they begin to think about the need to trim it. But, having lost time, it becomes very difficult to form a beautiful crown - changing the shape takes years, and sometimes it is no longer possible to do it.

Important!
The distance between the buds on the branches and the cut is very important. If you cut too close, the buds may stop growing and dry out. If, on the contrary, it is far from the bud, you will end up with a stump, which is dangerous for the plant. The optimal distance is 0.5 cm.

Types of shrub pruning

Early formative pruning

Basic rules when working

When pruning, it is important to follow some rules.
Do not leave stumps and cuttings split.
Remove dry, diseased and broken shoots.
When shortening a shoot, make the cut at an angle above a bud or side branch, without leaving a stump.
Remember: it is better to pinch the shoot in a timely manner than to trim it later.
To stimulate the growth of weak plants, they can be cut shorter, but well-growing, strong and healthy branches do not need to be shortened excessively.
It is important to always use only high-quality cutting tools, always sharp and clean.
When pruning, try to injure the plant as little as possible. For example, it is better to cut branches thinner than 2 cm in diameter with a sharp pruner, and cut off thicker ones with a hacksaw.
Use the pruning shears so that it does not touch other shoots.
If you need to cut down horizontal thick branches, make the first cut from below with a depth of about a quarter of the diameter of the cut shoot. Step back 1-2 cm from the main branch. Make the second cut from above towards the first. You need to cut until the branch breaks off along the grain. Only with this method of pruning will the fallen branch not tear off part of the remaining stump. After this, you should carefully cut down the stump.
The correct cut (cut) has a smooth surface and even edges, on which scraps of bark should not stick out. If possible, make the cut so that water does not linger on it. Clean out any uneven surfaces with a garden knife.
After trimming and smoothing out uneven areas, the cuts must be covered with garden varnish.
If the cutting surface is more than 3 cm in diameter, it is better to use oil paint(construction) - it will protect more reliably.

Form from childhood

This pruning is necessary to form a beautiful and well-developed crown with a large number of healthy shoots. More often it is done in nurseries in the first two to three years of a seedling’s life. You will have to deal with it if you have grown planting material yourself or bought annual seedlings.

When purchasing, you need to choose healthy plants with a well-developed and better closed root system.

If you want to plant several identical shrubs and shape them in a similar way (for example, to create a bosquet, hedge), take seedlings of the same height. It is important that their root collars are approximately the same in thickness and without signs of disease.

In the first year, shrubs planted in a permanent place are allowed to develop freely without interfering with the growth of their shoots.

How to do shaping pruning correctly

Early formative pruning is carried out in March or April. It is important to do this before active sap flow begins in plants.

Bushes are usually pruned at a height of 6-9 cm from the root collar (the so-called pruning “to the stump”). And by autumn, thanks to the awakening of dormant buds located on abandoned stumps, new shoots will develop. In the early spring of next year, they also need to be pruned, leaving enough buds so that up to a dozen new branches can grow by autumn. Usually, from two to five “eyes” are left on each shoot (depending on the number of growths formed after planting the bush on the stump). Shrubs, as a rule, acquire a standard appearance by the autumn of the third year.

Some exceptions

Cotoneaster, caragana and lilac can be pruned only once, and from four to seven skeletal branches are formed.
The shoots of Chaenomeles, chokeberry, cinquefoil and mahonia should not be too shortened in the second year, as they are able to form a crown on their own.
Viburnum pride, Tatarian maple, paniculata hydrangea - on the contrary, and in the third year they need to be planted on a stump, since they bush poorly.

Formation of bushes with a free-growing crown

In well-branching decorative-leaved and beautifully flowering shrubs, all shoots that have completed growth (a bud is formed at the top) in early spring should be shortened by a quarter of the length, combining this with thinning the crown (if it is thickened). You also need to remember that the shoots should be placed as evenly as possible in the crown.

In ornamental-leaved and beautifully flowering shrubs with weak tillering, it is necessary to severely prune all annual growth, leaving approximately four buds.

On shoots of plants with short internodes (irga, mock orange, spirea, honeysuckle), increase the number of buds left to 8-10.

Formation of the crown in the form of a ball, trapezoid, pyramid

Annual growths are pruned heavily in the spring, leaving bases 4-5 cm high. In this case, the contour should be as close as possible to the planned outline.

After this pruning, the plants are allowed to form new growths in the first year. In the next three to four seasons, shrubs that are subject to early formation are pruned according to the existing pattern twice a year. The first time - in the spring, before the buds open, and then - as the shoots grow. When they reach a length of 8-10 cm, they are cut in half.

There are plants that are easier to give a certain shape. For example, it is good to form hawthorn in the form of a cone. But from the crowns of cotoneaster and buckthorn, it is more convenient to cut out the outlines of a ball, cylinder or cube.

Important!
Remember, evergreen and coniferous shrubs should not be pruned until they are four years old. Then they are usually cut twice a year - before the start of flowering (approximately mid-June) and before the end of shoot growth (in the first ten days of August).

Formative pruning

What is formative pruning?

After the initial pruning, formative pruning is done, with the help of which an ordinary bush turns into a decorative one.

To do this, every year several more branches are added to the number of already existing ones, usually one or two, but the three strongest shoots can also be left. A little more attention will have to be paid to shrubs that form a lot of root growth. These include rowan-leaved fieldfare, white snowberry, shoot grass, and alder-leaved shadberry. It is necessary to ensure that the bushes do not grow too wide, and to remove most of the root growth along the perimeter. While the plant is young and has strong growth, it is important to prevent excessive thickening of the crown.

However, you also don’t need to cut out the shoots too much, otherwise this can lead to the formation of a very loose bush. First of all, weak branches coming from the roots are removed. Strong ones are also cut out if they grow very close to others or are directed deep into the bush. You need to leave only those shoots that can later replace any old or diseased branch.

In weakly winter-hardy plants, for example, some types of weigela and rhododendron, dry shoots may appear over time. They must be removed without delay, and the cut should be made not over the first healthy kidney, but over the second - this is more reliable. Lodging branches are also periodically removed - they spoil general form. Only in some cases, for example, when the upper shoots are frozen and the lodging ones are not damaged (which often happens in henome forests), they can be left, lifted and secured with a rope on a support, or a small frame can be made under the bush. When the shoots get used to growing in this position, the supports can be removed. This technique will return the bush to a decorative appearance.

First trimming group

This group includes plants that do not form powerful replacement shoots from the base or lower part of the crown. Their annual growth appears along the perimeter of the crown. Such shrubs are pruned in early spring.

These include:

❖ viburnum (Viburnum),

❖ lilac (Syringa),

❖ elderberry (Sambucus),

❖ barberry (Berberis),

❖ cotoneaster (Cotoneaster),

❖ bush cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa),

❖ irga (Amelanchier),-

❖ scumpia (Cotinus),

❖ magnolia (Magnolia),

❖ deciduous euonymus (Euonymus),

❖ wolfberry (Daphne),

❖ hazel (Corylus),

❖ silver oleagin (Elaeagnus commutata),

❖ hawthorn (Crataegus).

These plants generally require minimal pruning. In the first years after planting, it is necessary to form a skeleton consisting of the strongest shoots. To do this, in early spring, when the shrubs are in a state of forced dormancy, remove all intersecting, incorrectly located, and weak shoots that will spoil the decorative appearance and thicken the crown.

Pruning of adult bushes of this group can be limited to the removal of dried, diseased and damaged shoots. If there is an urgent need, you can cut or shorten living shoots.

This is usually necessary to maintain the overall symmetry of the crown or the decorative appearance of the bush. However, most gardeners believe that there is always a need for pruning even this group of plants. They do not produce replacement shoots, but over time they thicken the crown excessively, and in addition, its shape is lost.

Second trimming group

Plants are pruned in the summer immediately after flowering. Shrubs of this group form replacement shoots. They bloom on last year's growth.

These include: large-leaved hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), weigela (Weigela), except for the species with variegated leaves, kerria (Kerria), tamarix (Tamarix), stephanandra (Stephanandra), kolkwitzia (Kolkwitzia), mock orange (Philadelphus), forsythia (Forsyth ia), Japanese quince(Chaenomeles japonica), three-lobed almond (Prunus triloba), early-flowering spirea (Spiraea): Vangutta, Thunberga, sharp-toothed, Nipponian, crenate, ash-leaved, oak-leaved.

Shrubs of this group bloom, as a rule, in spring or at the very beginning of summer.

They shorten the shoots that had flowers. You can trim off, leaving only the most strongly developing growth. At the same time, weak and thin branches are also removed. About a third of the old shoots need to be cut out regularly and to the ground - they are usually no longer productive.

On a note:
Old shoots are darker in color than others. Additionally, they tend to be thicker.

Third group of pruning

Plants are pruned in early spring. Shrubs of this group bloom on the shoots of the current year.

These include: summer-flowering spirea (Bumalda, Japanese, Douglas, willow, white-flowered, Billara), David's buddleia, paniculate and tree hydrangeas.

Mature shrubs of this group are pruned quite heavily in early spring. They begin to grow strong shoots, on which will appear in the summer a large number of flowers, or abundant flowering will occur closer to autumn.

If such pruning is not done, the plants will begin to thicken and partially lose their decorative effect, and many will look unkempt. Without this procedure, the quality of flowering of adult bushes may suffer.

When pruning, they usually try to remove all last year's shoots to the most well-developed buds located above the old part of the stem (at a height of approximately 5-7 cm from the ground). After a couple of years, the main woody branches may become very thick. And if this happens, you need to thin them out to maintain the decorative appearance of the bush.

Fourth trimming group

Plants are pruned in early spring and after flowering. This group includes evergreen shrubs that require little pruning.

For example: rhododendrons, mahonia, boxwood.

After winter, dried and broken shoots are cut out. It happens that after an unsuccessful winter, the shoots of mahonia become bare - do not rush to trim them (especially since they will bloom soon), wait until the buds wake up. In the summer, faded flowers and inflorescences are removed from rhododendrons, and boxwoods are pruned only if they are formed into figures or borders.

You also need a haircut in the fall

Shrubs that form flower buds on the current year's growth bloom from mid-summer to autumn. You can trim them in the fall, while removing the entire upper part of last year's growth at a distance of 10-40 cm from the ground. Afterwards, strong young shoots grow on the bushes, which will bloom. This pruning can be done annually, or from time to time, as the crown thickens, shoots become smaller and the plant loses its decorative appearance. If wilted inflorescences look unsightly, it is better to cut them off after flowering.

It is important to remember that heavily pruned plants must receive enough nutrition and moisture so that they can painlessly restore their above-ground parts. It is useful to mulch the soil around them with compost. This way you can prune summer-flowering spirea, Sargent hydrangea, David's buddleia, bicolor lespedeza, mountain ash, etc.

Keeping fit

It is very important to maintain the previously specified parameters of the shrub crown, its specific shape, typical for a given species or created artificially, as well as maintain the necessary illumination for the plant in all areas of the crown.

Due to the local effect of pruning, they try to do it either on a side branch, the growth of which needs to be strengthened, or on a bud, if growth is needed in this place.

Such pruning is needed annually: both in spring and autumn. To maintain the shape, plants that have already formed are usually pruned, because the bush grows and loses its decorative effect.

Usually, this involves removing parts of the growth (cutting off part of the shoot) from the previous year (spring pruning) or the current year (when pruning in the fall). It’s easy to distinguish: last year’s growth is usually lighter in color than perennial shoots.

Fast-growing shrubs often require both spring and fall pruning. For example, broom (and other representatives of Drokova) grows quite widely in width, as a result of which the bush literally falls apart, exposing the base. And if maintenance pruning is not carried out for several years, young shoots will grow, falling from the old branches, which by this time have become coarser. This will sharply reduce the decorative value of the shrub. When doing this type of pruning, do not leave behind any old rough wood; try to cut dead branches as low as possible. It is more correct to cut so that the continuation of the old shoot is a younger growth. Shortening the current year's shoots will also stimulate the formation of new growths.

If a branch must be removed, cut it close to the base of the current year's growth (next to the new growth).

Anti-aging pruning

Let's enhance flowering by pruning!

In order for the flowering to be more abundant, and for more fruits to ripen on shrubs that are not only decorative, but also useful (irga, viburnum, barberry, chokeberry), pruning stimulates the growth of new branches on already quite old specimens.

This type of pruning is most often used if the plant’s growth becomes too small and does not exceed 7 cm.

This pruning involves shortening the branches, which activates the growth of dormant or adventitious buds. It is usually carried out from February to April and from August to September.

It is important to know about the small distinctive features of shrubs that bloom on the shoots of the current year (Japanese spirea, tree and paniculata hydrangeas) and the past (large-leaved hydrangea, lilac, forsythia, three-lobed Louiseania, spring spirea, viburnum, hawthorn, honeysuckle honeysuckle).

There are also plants that bloom in spring on the shoots of the previous year, and in the summer on the shoots of the current year: for example, weigela, kerria. In old bushes of this type, pruning will stimulate the growth of a fairly large number of lateral branches, which will make flowering more luxuriant next season.

The shoots need to be shortened by 1/3 from the top, pruning at well-developed buds (above them) immediately after flowering. In addition, branches that grow a lot of lateral growth each year will bloom more profusely and produce more fruit if one of the three oldest in the bush is cut out. This is done in the spring about once every two years. This technique also allows you to avoid excessive thickening of plants.

Some features of anti-aging pruning

By pruning you can also regulate the size of the flowers - strong pruning leads to a small number of them, but they will be large. And after light pruning, many small flowers will appear. Some shrubs, for example, mock orange or deutzia, when pruned annually, significantly lose the decorative appearance of their crown. Therefore, it is better to shorten not all of their shoots, but selectively.

Prune to about three or four buds, from which strong young replacement shoots are then formed for flowering next year. The remaining branches are left untouched. Only when the flowers become noticeably smaller (usually after a few years) should you cut off all the shoots on the bush.

Plants can be rejuvenated

Shrubs age over time. However, this occurs at different rates in different species. For example, in the willow spirea, colored lilac, rowan-leaved fieldfare, Daurian and rugose rose hips, the stems live for six years. The longevity of vesicular carp shoots is measured at seven to eight years. Potentilla fruticosa and Spira medium and crenate have different life spans on different stems, which range from six to fourteen years.

When rejuvenating pruning, half of the old branches are removed every spring. Hard pruning is also allowed, when the bush is cut off completely. You can do the same with viburnum. It should be taken into account that species that produce root shoots can be cut to the ground (for example, viburnum or shadberry). But species that produce shoots from the lower part of the branches should not be cut to the base, but should leave parts of the stems 15-20 cm high above the ground.

There may be a problem with shrub maples - it can be impossible to rejuvenate them, since they do not produce shoots at all, but the crown needs to be shaped.

When to do anti-aging pruning

It is better to carry out anti-aging pruning of most shrubs in early spring. The signal for it is the shrinking of the shoots or the formation of weak ones.

It is necessary to prune above the branches located closer to the base of the shoot, or in the place where the growth of the rejuvenated branch was most powerful.

Sometimes mild rejuvenation is also carried out. In this case, the size of the removed part of the shoot is not much different from pinching, and the effect of such pruning is usually low.

Radical rejuvenation

It is necessary when not only strong growths, but also weak short branches can no longer form on the bush.

All shoots are pruned at soil level in early spring. And if the shrub is formed on a rootstock (grafted plants), it is pruned at a height of 10-15 cm from the grafting site. As a result, the renewal buds will produce new growth. And since the volume of the root system remains the same, there will be quite a lot of shoots.

Then you need to select the strongest and most well located of them, and remove the rest.

By the way, there is no need to rush with this: it is better to divide the work into two or even three stages, cutting out about a third of the shoots per year.

In this case, one copy will have branches of two or three different ages.

How to cut correctly

It is important not to rush to “blow heads”, but first carefully examine the bush. When working, try to shorten each shoot to a strong bud. The cut must be made at a slight angle and right at the “eye”. This is necessary to prevent a stump from forming. It is important to strive to ensure that the cut surface is perfectly flat. Bark burrs indicate careless work and unsuitable tools. If you are going to remove side shoots that extend from the skeletal branches, for example, those growing deep into the bush (thickening), cut strictly along the annular influx located at the base of the shoot, also without leaving stumps. The fact is that these hemp best case scenario They will dry out, and in the worst case, they may begin to rot. And this is “ opened door» for different infections.

Let us remind you once again: cuts of all branches with a diameter of 2 cm or more must be treated with garden varnish.

Pruning shrubs with beautiful leaves

This group includes types and forms of ornamental shrubs with original foliage: for example, the white-edged form of white sage, golden forms of black elderberry and Bumapida spirea, red-leaved forms of hazel, barberry, mackerel, bladderwort, variegated forms. They need to be pruned annually in early spring, and quite heavily. This is also done in order to cause active growth of young shoots and their leaves to achieve the maximum decorative effect.

Snowberry (Symphoricarpos), cotoneaster (Cotoneaster) and barberries (Berberis) do not require special pruning, although they tolerate pruning well and are often used in hedges.

When planting freely, these bushes (all shoots) are usually shortened to 15-20 cm. Subsequently, the bushes are thinned out as necessary, cutting out the thickening and oldest branches completely or only their tops to a strong lateral branch. Of the coppice shoots, only those that will replace old stems are left. Sanitary and anti-aging pruning is done in the same way as most other shrubs. Subshrubs, for example, decorative raspberries - hawthorn-leaved (Rubus crataegifolius), beautiful (R. deliciosus), fragrant (R. odoratus) - are pruned in the same way as their fruit relatives - the spent biennial branches are removed annually.

Plants on a standard or standard bushes

In ornamental gardening, depending on the size of the trunk (distance from the root collar to the first branch), there are bole (height - up to 0.25 m), semi-bole (0.25-0.75 m), bole (0.75-1 .2 m), low trunk (i.2-i.5m) and high (more than 1.5 m).

The trunk is characteristic of trees, and to a lesser extent - shrubs. But it is precisely the cultivation of shrubs on a trunk that emphasizes all their beauty and originality. Typically, such artificial forms are planted on the lawn singly (as tapeworms).

By the way!
You can enhance the growth of shrubs on low trunks. To do this, select a powerful shoot in the crown, growing from an upward-pointing bud, lift it and secure it to a support. Then they begin to form a second “umbrella” by pinching. And the first pinching is done in the spring at the desired height, the emerging side shoots are cut off as necessary.

It is quite common to grow weeping forms of plants on a trunk. This can be found in deciduous shrubs: amorpha, euonymus, privet, hawthorn, elderberry, dogwood, willow, caragana (yellow acacia), hazel, holly, broom, black locust, boxwood, mackerel, forsythia, chaenome forest. Sometimes plants that produce shoots or low-growing ones are grown on trunks. Chokeberry (chokeberry) grafted onto common mountain ash looks great in this form; creeping euonymus - in B. european; almonds (three-lobed, Louiseania) - on cherry plum, plum, almond or bird cherry; ivy - on aralia; lilac - on privet or ash; chaenomeles - on pear, rowan or quince.

They are often grafted onto a standard to show the beauty and grace of individual flowers of a plant, for example, standard roses. But for them good flowering Proper pruning is important.

Maintenance pruning of the pink tree

In the first year after grafting in the spring, after removing the cover, the rootstock is cut 1 cm above the bud. The cut is cleaned and sealed. When the shoot of a varietal rose grows to the fifth leaf, the top needs to be pinched.

After this, side branches will begin to grow. They are also pinched after the third to fifth leaf, until a beautiful crown is formed.

By the way!
Obtaining a grafted standard rose can be somewhat speeded up. To do this, it is necessary to vaccinate the tallest young shoots of the rosehip (without digging it up) in the spring. And in the fall, the plant is dug up and planted separately for growing.

The standard rose must be tied to a support, but this should not be done near the graft, but slightly lower, so that it is not damaged. By the way, two supports are often installed - one opposite the other.

It is important to remove shoots both on the stem and those extending from the ground (from the roots) throughout the season, as well as pluck out the buds that appear. Then all the nutrition will be spent on the formation beautiful crown with strong shoots.

In the second and subsequent years, the plant can fully bloom. And the buds are removed only on sick and weak specimens.

And after the first flowering the plant can be pruned. In this case, the shoots are shortened to the first strong buds that begin to grow. At the same time, non-flowering shoots and branches growing inside the crown are cut out from the middle of the crown.

By autumn, faded flowers on the rose are no longer removed, since after this the setting of seeds begins, which inhibits the awakening of new buds.

At this time, it is important for the rose to prepare for winter, and not to grow new shoots, as happens if you cut off faded flowers.

Pruning tea roses and floribunda roses

Prune immediately after removing the cover (around March), when the buds are still dormant or they have already slightly bent.

In the first year, all strong shoots need to be shortened by 5-6 buds - they will be 15-20 cm in length. At the end of the season (approximately November), all flowering shoots are shortened and non-flowering shoots are pruned, as well as those that did not have time to become lignified by winter. In the second year, in April, all dry, diseased, weak and thickening shoots are removed. The young growth is shortened by five to six buds, and the remaining side branches are cut to 10-15 cm (about three to four buds remain on the stumps). Hybrid tea roses Usually they are shaped into a bouquet, and floribunda groups are often cut into a hemisphere.

good climbing roses!

To obtain a spherical or weeping shape of the crown of a rose on a trunk, climbing species or groundcovers that produce many young branches per season are used for grafting.

They are formed like shrubs from the first pruning group. They bloom in June-July on side shoots appearing on last year's stems. If the crown is thick enough, in September all last year's shoots are cut off, leaving the current year's growth. If there are few branches, leave two or three biennial stems, cutting them into two or three buds.

Standard roses can be trimmed more compactly so that the crown looks like an oval or a ball. This is often done with large-flowered varieties. If you plant such a plant, the beauty of your garden or its area is guaranteed!

Types and rules for pruning standard roses

Prune in the spring to three to six buds (leaving a shoot 10-15 cm long). Trimming shorter is dangerous, as very powerful shoots are formed that distort the crown. This is how hybrid tea, polyanthus, miniature and floribunda roses are usually pruned. These are roses that bloom on the shoots of the current year.

The ends of the shoots are shortened only by 10-15 cm. This is done with park and climbing groups of roses, since they bloom on last year’s shoots. The day before, remove all broken and damaged shoots, as well as dried and thickening ones. Three to six of the strongest and youngest ones are left in the crown, preferably unbranched and diverging in different directions.

If after winter the rose trunk comes out very frozen, cut it very short. Moreover, if the grafting site is not damaged, it’s not scary: the plant will soon recover, producing new shoots.

On a note

A wet wrap with sphagnum moss will help your kidneys wake up faster. They cover the places where the buds should emerge (usually at the base of the shoots) and secure them with lutrasil.
Remember: dead stumps should not accumulate in the crown, especially the old one. Every spring you need to carefully cut everything off and cover it with garden varnish.
To form the crown of a rose, it is very important which direction the bud on which the cut is made is directed. Usually the upward direction grows more actively - it is often preferred to be left at the cut. But if a variety with a very spreading crown and sparse shoots is grafted onto the standard, it is cut to a bud directed inside the crown.

Man-made "clouds"over the flower beds

The standard shape, which is given to plants over several years with the help of pruning, can be considered one of the most striking methods of decorating a garden.

And every year there are more and more admirers of standard plants - garden owners are pleased to create something perfect with their own hands. And this is understandable, because the slender crowns of various shapes above the flower beds are mesmerizing.

The elegance and solemnity brought to the garden by standard plants make it orderly and cozy.

These plants do not take up much space, and they can easily be “fitted” into the landscape itself. small garden. And it is not difficult to grow and form such plants; it is only important to acquire some knowledge.

Such plants in ceramic tubs are very beautiful. And in this case, the range of grown plants expands to include heat-loving plants.
For the winter garden species on a trunk, it is necessary to insulate both the crown and the root system or store them in an unheated room. And bring heat-loving ones into the house.

Fruit bushes on a trunk

Standard plants have literally burst into our gardens. Many gardeners give them preference, trying to create some kind of miracle on their site. And increasingly, among ornamental shrubs or directly on the lawn, fruit bushes are grown, which are beautiful in bloom and, in addition, delightful delicious berries. They fit very well into the landscape of the garden and are in harmony with the flower beds, since they are grown on a standard.

Creating a standard plant, despite the apparent complexity of its appearance, is quite simple. And the most affordable option- grow your own root standard. To do this, in July, a cutting with five to six “eyes” is cut out from the middle part of the shoots of golden or red currants and planted in open ground. Moreover, they do this so that only the apical bud remains at the soil level. For the winter, it should be covered with dry leaves so that the cuttings are not damaged by frost, which can happen when the soil is not yet covered with snow. In the spring of the next year after planting, the apical bud will begin to grow. Your task is to grow one shoot, so during its growth you will need to remove all lateral shoots.

Usually, by the end of summer, the height of the shoot reaches 80-100 cm. And in order for it to be strong and healthy, it is important to water the plant and be sure to feed it. For feeding in early summer use nitrogen fertilizers, and at the end - a mixture of phosphorus and potassium (according to the instructions).

In the spring of next year, the grown shoot is cut off at a height of approximately 75-80 cm from the ground, leaving only three or four upper buds for further growth. All others must be removed to the very base of the shoot. Over the summer, three or four shoots will form from the left buds, which will have time to grow up to 35-45 cm, sometimes a little more.

Next year, all shoots must be shortened, also leaving three or four buds on each of them at the base. Thus, in three seasons it is possible to form a full-fledged standard plant, which will begin to bear fruit in the third year.

Gooseberry "tree"

It will take a little more time to form a gooseberry trunk. When choosing varieties for this, it is better to give preference to large-fruited forms that are resistant to powdery mildew: for example, Date or Warsaw - with strong, straight-growing shoots.

If such a variety is already growing in the garden, in the spring you need to dig up a branch of the mother bush, and in the fall, separate the resulting cuttings and transplant them to a permanent place.

Then you need to repeat all the steps that you did with golden or red currants.

The height of the trunk is usually 60-100 centimeters.

The crown of such bushes is usually formed into a ball or hemisphere.

By the way!
If the currant or gooseberry stem is made very low, up to 15 cm, you will get a so-called improved bush. All his barrels come out from almost the same “point”.

Such a plant is more graceful than a natural bush with a wide base, in which the stems grow directly from the ground at some distance from each other. They care for a bush on a “leg”, as if it were a standard form, of which it is, in essence, a modification.

Other ways to obtain a standard

You can get a standard plant not only from an annual seedling grown from a single-bud cutting. Ordinary seedlings are also used. Choose the strongest and smoothest shoot. All buds in the root zone and side shoots that have managed to form by this time at a height of about 40-50 cm are removed.

The remaining buds are given the opportunity to develop, and from them the crown of the bush is subsequently formed.

A good standard can be grown if you put an opaque tube (not too dense) on the shoot of the seedling. Its size should be equal to the height of the future trunk. It is important to bury its lower part into the soil. But such a tube should not replace a support. It is necessary to install supports for any forming method.

Rules for pruning standard fruit bushes

Do not allow the crown of a standard plant to grow too much: an overly large one will look unsightly, and the standard may break. There is no need to be afraid to trim the overgrown crown.

Do not be afraid to remove flowers - pruning in any case will stimulate branching, and over time, new flower stalks will certainly form.

Be sure to remove the side shoots that appear just below the crown (on the trunk). Otherwise, increasing in size, they will take a lot nutrients to the detriment of the development of the main beautiful part of the plant, and the decorative effect will suffer.

Periodically cut off the young shoots that appear on the trunk in the summer at its base. Sometimes shoots, and in quite large quantities, can appear from the ground.

If the plant still has a weak stem, you need to give it the opportunity to finally form - tie it to a support. The main thing is to make the loop loose, otherwise it can damage the trunk, which is still very tender at a young age.

You can update such a plant radical pruning(for two or three buds) of all shoots in early spring before the bush awakens.

Trimming topiary plants

Pink willow "balls" by Hakuro Nishiki

Willow whole-leaved Hakuro Nishiki (Salix integra Hakuro Nishiki) is a very flexible plant. And if formed correctly, it can grow not only as a bush, but also as a tree, and in this case you can do without grafting. Such plants look especially interesting if you plant them with a tapeworm.

I advise you to do this at the end of this spring, since such formation will take more than one year.

First you need to root the willow cuttings. Fortunately, its shoots take root easily. They are planted in moist soil, covered with a 2-3 cm layer of coarse sand on top (the place should be shaded), and covered with a jar.

In the first year, the apical cutting is allowed to grow freely, if it is taken from the middle, the strongest and most even of the shoots is left on it (in the future this will be a stem) and it is also allowed to grow freely. In the next year or two, you need to remove all side shoots to form a trunk. And only then pinch their tops at the selected height. From this moment the formation of the crown begins. The side shoots that appear at the top need to be pinched two or three times a season so that the “cap” becomes thicker.

In the spring of an adult plant, in the middle of the crown, cut out old shoots, shorten last year’s shoots, do not forget

get rid of thickening small branches. In the summer (no later than July), young growth is shortened.

With such a haircut, the plant will always look neat and show off in a pink “outfit” twice a year.

The Hakuro Nishiki willow, formed into three trunks, looks even more attractive, especially if viewed from different points in the garden.

Shaped pruning of shrubs

Shaped pruning of shrubs is not just a way to diversify and decorate the garden landscape. It turns out that the skill of creating topiaries, both simple and complex, is one of the most ancient arts.

In fact, from any shrub, using special techniques, you can create a figurine of an animal, some kind of fairy-tale character, a sphere or other geometric figure, a cup or plate, embody an architectural masterpiece in greenery, or even cut out an entire picture.

It is generally accepted that curly-cropped plants are an attribute of regular and architectural gardens with strict lines, geometric designs and restrained colors, often shades of green. However, topiary art is not only suitable for English gardens. Such figurines will fit well into any garden with any design, the main thing is to choose the right style, shape, and method of execution.

Simple haircut shape

To form a topiary, you need to choose only the strongest, healthiest shrub with a dense crown and uniform branching.

At the first stage of such a haircut, the plant is given only the approximate outlines of its future shape. To do this, use large garden shears to trim the main contours, outlining only the main lines and removing all that is unnecessary. Only then do they move on to a more thorough trimming of the crown, removing all the small branches that have strayed from the main lines.

At the second stage, you need to arm yourself with smaller garden shears, which are often used for topiary cutting. After achieving a shape similar to the final result, the plant is given the opportunity to gain vegetative mass, which will take about a year. During this time, young shoots will slowly fill the resulting voids and create necessary basis for the final formation of the figure.

Then in mid-summer the haircut is repeated using small garden shears.

Afterwards, in August, all that remains is to make the final adjustment to get perfectly smooth edges and walls of the figure.

This trimming resembles polishing almost finished product.

More complex figures

They are more difficult to form. For this type of work you will need a wire frame. It will help define the contours of growth and will facilitate the pruning process itself, since it will serve as a guide and can be used to outline lines. A wire frame is installed on young plants, the dimensions of which more closely match the parameters of the workpiece.

At the first stage, the main lines are formed, for which all the outlines of the bush are adjusted along the contours of the wire frame. For these purposes, pruning is not always used; sometimes they simply direct individual branches, tying them in the direction necessary to form the figure. Usually, only those tops that deviate greatly from the shape you need are cut off. More specific pruning is carried out as the plant grows - then all its outlines are again adjusted using small-sized garden shears.

Complex figures usually have to be adjusted several times a season as new branches grow and move out of the contours of the green sculpture.

Yew, BOX, HOLLY...

Most often, green sculptures are created on the basis of small-leaved and densely branched plants that can easily withstand pruning: boxwood, yew, crenate holly, bush-shaped thuja, privet, barberry.

Molding is a step-by-step process of creating the desired figure. And it will require not only special skills, but also patience, endurance and attentiveness.

Shrub plants can be given virtually any desired shape, but for beginners in this business it is better to start with the simplest ones. geometric shapes- pyramid, cylinder, cube or sphere. Only after mastering the basic cutting techniques and bringing your skills to perfection can you begin to create more complex shapes.

When cutting, use only clean and sharp tools.

Before working, it is advisable to lay out film or burlap around the plant, which can then be easily collected and thrown away along with the trimmings.

Hedges

We build hedges

Trimming a hedge is necessary not only to obtain the required shape, but also to enhance the growth of side shoots, which makes the hedge thicker.

You need to start cutting in the first year after planting. Shrubs planted in autumn are pruned in the spring, and if they were planted in the spring, their shoots should be shortened in early spring the next year.

If poorly formed seedlings with an open root system are planted on the site, their shoots should be cut in half. And those that were formed in the nursery (with a closed root system) are shortened by about a third.

Blooming fence

Quite often, a real masterpiece is created in the garden - a flowering hedge. Almost all shrubs are suitable for it and can be combined to your liking. But more often they use fast-growing and competitive plants - yellow acacia, weigela, hydrangea, deutzia, viburnum buldenezh and pride, lilac, cinquefoil bush, blood-red and golden currant, as well as forsythia, mock orange, spirea and winged euonymus.

hedge from blooming in summer shrubs, for example, David's buddleia, need to be pruned heavily, every spring - and it will give abundant flowering, and the flowers will be larger than usual.

Shrubs that bloom in spring should be thinned approximately once every 3-4 years immediately after flowering so that the intensity of flower formation does not decrease.

If a flowering hedge is very bare, it is pruned radically in spring or autumn (to the old wood) - then such shrubs will respond by forming new shoots. In this case, the strongest of the young shoots are left and shortened in the spring of next year, which will increase their branching. Correction of the “wall” width is also allowed. For these purposes, all branches that protrude greatly beyond the perimeter of the previously formed shape must be cut out at the base.

When to cut your hair?

A hedge of deciduous plants is cut for the first time in the second year after planting, and then annually. Young bushes need to be pruned once a year. In the next 3-4 years, in June-July, the annual growth is shortened by a third or even half. Since this stimulates the formation of new shoots, the crown is formed without holes or gaps.

Mature shrubs are trimmed two to three times a year, usually in spring, then in mid-summer and autumn. It is important to remember that every year the cutting height needs to be increased by 5-6 cm until the hedge reaches the required size.

Fast-growing plants require repeated trimmings throughout the season (from May to October inclusive).

Less often, about twice a year (in mid-summer and autumn), slow-growing species are pruned: for example, barberry, common cotoneaster, and snowberry.

· A hedge height of 2-3 m or even more will be provided by sea buckthorn, white and blood-red derain, oleaster, common and Amur barberry, bladderwort, serviceberry, common hazel, Hungarian and common lilac, mock orange, viburnum gordovina.

· To form a hedge 1.2-2 m high, dog rose, Russian broom, brilliant cotoneaster, spirea, and caragana shrub are suitable. barberry, snowberry, etc. *

· You can divide the garden into zones using bosquets (smooth “walls” that form a “cabinet” in the garden) 1-1.2 m high. To form them, you should use almonds, cinquefoil, low-growing barberries, spirea and mock oranges.

Features of cutting hedges and “walls”

The cutting depth should not be large at once; it is increased as the growth and age of the plants in the hedge increase.

In young plants, usually a third of the annual growth is cut off in June-July, but with age, when the natural growth of shoots slowly fades and needs to be stimulated, you can shorten them by half. Such pruning will not only improve branching, but also the formation of larger leaves, which is very important for old plants.

As the hedge reaches the required height, the cutting can be done more deeply, up to leaving only small stumps 2-3 cm high from the annual growths.

All vertically directed shoots must be pruned until the lateral branches that form after their shortening reach required height. In the future, all that remains is to periodically adjust the overall appearance.

As soon as the hedge reaches a given height, it is necessary to carry out constant top trimming to maintain its shape. This is a mandatory technique, since even a small regrowth of shoots can greatly spoil the shape of both a rectangular and trapezoidal hedge. You can trim less often if the triangular-shaped hedge and unevenly growing shoots are not so noticeable.

Important!
In the climate of the middle zone, the best shape of a hedge is conical or trapezoidal (when viewed in profile). If the bottom is wider and the top is narrow, the fence is better illuminated by the sun, which means that the bottom of the fence is not exposed, and the plants bush more actively.

Possible problems with fences

Trimming the “walls” of deciduous plants does not end with just trimming the tops of the shoots. If you do only this, after a few years the bushes will loosen, the shoots will sag, and the hedge will lose its former decorative effect.

The “wall” needs to be cut deeper from the sides so that, when viewed in profile, the height is much greater than the width, and does not approach a banal square from year to year.

Remember: improper pruning will lead to deterioration of lighting conditions, the bottom of the hedge will become bare, many dry branches will appear, and the density of each individual plant will decrease.

I strongly recommend shortening the shoots of neglected hedges to half their height and width. In some cases, cutting “to the stump” is even allowed (in the photo), after which you will have to form everything all over again.

How to update plants

Rejuvenating pruning is usually needed not only for neglected hedges, but also for those that have lost their decorative and protective (this applies to plants with thorns, for example, hawthorn or rose hips) properties. This type of haircut should be done in the spring and it is better in two stages: in the first year, trim one side, shortening the branches at a distance of 10-12 cm from the trunks, and cut the other side as usual. The next year, repeat the same operation on the other side.

If you want to rejuvenate the hedge as quickly as possible, trim both sides at once in one season.

Some rules for cutting hedges

Try to make the cut obliquely and over the most well-developed healthy bud, directed towards the periphery of the bush. This is especially important when forming a young hedge.

Trimming hedges made of evergreen (not coniferous) plants is in many ways similar to the formation of “walls” of beautiful flowering shrubs. They are cut for the first time in the spring and not earlier than a year after planting or transplanting. You need to cut no more than a third of the green mass at one time. If you want to make the crown thicker, at the end of the season, shorten the shoots that have grown this year, repeating the pre-formed shape of the crown. After trimming, never leave bare sections of branches that do not have buds or leaves at the top - they will most likely dry out.

After pruning, all plants (flowering, deciduous, evergreen) need to create conditions for rapid recovery: water abundantly, apply fertilizer, and also mulch the soil.

To trim green hedges, it is better to use hand pruners or scissors. They cause less injury to plants and allow a more beautiful hedge to be formed. The only negative is that it takes more time to work. It is much faster to do it with an electric tool. However, immediately after cutting, you can see how the leaves are worn out and cuts are made in not quite the right places. However, all edges turn out smooth.

Beginners can be advised to cut their hair using stretched cords or wire frames. It is advisable to paint the landmarks in some bright, noticeable color. Then it will be easier to work.

When regularly trimming a hedge to maintain its shape, each subsequent cut should always be made at least a little, but higher than the previous one. If you cut the shoots at the same level each time, the hedge may become too bare. It will not have a “green frame” of repeatedly branching young branches covered with foliage.

Stephanandra tender shoots

Stephanandra has a medium crown size. It blooms in summer, but the flowers are inconspicuous, so the plant is valued for its decorative autumn coloring of leaves, as well as for its bright shoots that effectively decorate the garden in winter. It is also suitable for hedges, as it actively grows growth. IN middle lane It is advisable to form a low border that can winter under the snow. In general, stephanandra does not have good winter hardiness and in cooler regions it can freeze to the level of snow. But there is no need to be alarmed: the plant usually quickly restores its above-ground mass (in 40-50 days). However, it is possible and necessary to speed up the regeneration process. After waiting some time to make sure that the buds do not bloom, it is necessary to cut off all the shoots to green, living buds, and treat the cut areas. If you plant stepha-nandra among shrubs, you don’t have to think about pruning for the first few years.

Starting from about the fourth year of life in the garden, the crown of the bush must be thinned, for which every fourth adult stem is removed in the spring.

In summer, it is advisable to prune all faded shoots, cutting them down to the strongest side branches, trying to preserve as natural as possible, that is, the spreading shape of the crown of the bush.

More mature plants, which are eight or more years old, form a mass of thin, intertwining and short shoots that greatly thicken the crown. There is only one way out - cut off all the shoots to the base, rejuvenating the bush. This pruning can be done both in winter and early spring, a week or two before the buds open. And the next year, approximately in the middle of summer, when the young shoots grow, their tips are pinched.

Diervilla

It is advisable to give this plant more space, as it produces many root suckers. And as a result - lush clumps, which, by the way, turn red in the fall.

In limited conditions, it will be necessary to restrain the growth of Diervilla honeysuckle by pruning the bush around the perimeter in the spring, and at the same time doing sanitary pruning. If the soil is nutritious, the growth of new shoots will be too active, so you need to cut out the excess ones in the summer.

Pruning subshrubs

Subshrubs need pruning

Most shrubs also need to be pruned regularly to avoid thickening of their crowns and loss of decorativeness.

A few days before the plants completely bloom, you should remove all flower stalks and shorten the leafy parts of the bushes by about 5-6 cm. This procedure sometimes prolongs flowering or stimulates re-flowering. If semi-shrubs do not grow in a group, but separately, when pruning it is better to give their crowns a semicircular shape - this way they will look more attractive, especially before and after flowering.

If you decide to prune in the spring, it is better to do it more radically and preferably before the young shoots begin to grow. At the same time, last year’s stems are shortened at a height of 15-17 cm.

As a rule, lavender, santolina, medicinal sage, hyssop, lofanthus, etc. are subjected to significant pruning. Their pruning is aimed at maintaining the compact shape of the bushes. By the way, in suitable conditions (soil composition, moisture), these subshrubs winter well in the middle zone.

If you delay pruning lavender and sage, the regrown young shoots will not have time to ripen before the first autumn frosts and may be partially damaged, or even freeze completely.

More radical pruning is also necessary for late-flowering subshrubs, for example, Alpine aster. It is cut fairly low above the ground, after which the soil is mulched with compost, which will insulate and serve as a top dressing for the next season.

Pruning hydrangeas

Before pruning, you need to know exactly what kind of hydrangea (Hydrangea) you have - paniculate, tree-like or large-leaved. Each has its own characteristics.

By the way!
Pruning is possible because plants have the ability to restore lost parts. Even if it is made where there is neither a side branch nor a visible bud, shoots appear from the dormant buds. However, remember that as you get closer to the base of the branch, the effect of pruning gradually fades.

Paniculate hydrangea (N. panicuiata)

Pruning panicle hydrangea will not be difficult if you remember that it blooms on the current season's shoots.

You can prune in autumn, winter or spring. There is no need to do this annually.

You cannot prune in summer: flower buds have already formed at the ends of new shoots, and the hydrangea is preparing to bloom. I like to do this in early spring. I remove small, weak, rubbing and intersecting branches. I shorten the strong ones, following the same principle as in the case of tree-like shoots: if there are many annual shoots, each individual inflorescence will turn out smaller.

Paniculata hydrangea on a trunk

From paniculate hydrangea you can form standard form. To do this, all the shoots of a young bush are cut out in the spring, leaving the most powerful one. It is driven out to 70-100 cm, regularly removing all side shoots and shoots. The crown is usually formed spherically. This “tree” is very impressive, but you need to remember: the shoots of paniculate hydrangea are very fragile, and the inflorescences form a huge “cap” and can break off without additional support.

In general, the fragility of shoots threatens not only standard “trees”, but also bushes, especially overgrown and unpruned ones. For the winter, I cut off the inflorescences of all hydrangeas and tie up the shoots. A weak solution of potassium permanganate will help strengthen the strength of the shoots. I water my hydrangeas with it several times during the summer.

You need to cut very carefully garden hydrangeas. Heavy pruning often results in poor flowering of the plant. Hydrangea paniculata, on the contrary, is pruned to two to six buds. If you don't trim so hard, small inflorescences will form.

Tree hydrangea pruning

Tree hydrangea (H. arborescens), for example, the most common Annabelle variety, blooms on the current year's growth. This means that in the fall you can shorten all shoots at a height of 20-25 cm from the ground. And in early spring, cut off about a third of the old shoots at soil level.

Firstly, this is necessary so that the bush is not thickened, and secondly, as a result there will be slightly fewer inflorescences, but each of them will form much larger. And thirdly, so that the bush has a beautiful spherical shape, and the inflorescences grow on strong stems and “look” up. Otherwise, heavy “caps” will grow, hanging at the ends of long, arched “fishing rods.” The only period when tree hydrangea cannot be pruned is late spring. At this time, the plant is preparing to bloom.

We form macrophylla. Work calendar

Trimmed large leaf hydrangea(N. macrophylla) there are subtleties. Many experts do not consider it necessary to prune it at all; they only remove old, damaged and weakened branches, and at any time.

First year

After planting in autumn or early spring, shorten the main growths by a strong bud (or two), cut out weak ones and mulch the root system well with humus.

October November.

During the growing season, several strong growths and a large number of lateral branches on the main shoots formed at the base of the crown - only the weakest ones or those that violate symmetry are pruned.

Second year

June. Flowers form on last year's growths. After flowering, new strong shoots are formed from the base. July. After flowering, you need to cut off all generative shoots to new powerful growths that have grown below (shorten to them).

Third and subsequent years

July. Immediately after flowering, all faded shoots are removed onto the healthy growths located below, and all weak branches are cut out completely. If the bush becomes very dense, cut out a quarter of all old shoots, also to the base. Elena POTAPOVA, Mytishchi, Moscow region.

In hydrangea, which blooms on last year's shoots, the inflorescences with three or four nearest leaves are cut off at the end of July.
The fact is that in August it begins to lay flower buds for the next year, which ripen during August - October. If you prune such a hydrangea in late autumn or do it too radically, there will be no flowering next year.

New macrophylla pruning method: flowering is better!

Remontant large-leaved hydrangeas bloom not only from the apical buds of shoots (the first wave of flowering), but also on lateral perennial shoots, as well as annual ones that appear below ground level. They bloom later. It is the property of blooming repeatedly or repeatedly that is called remontancy.

A new method for pruning large-leaved remontant hydrangeas aims to help them bloom well in cold climates. Already in July, the branches of the bush without apical flower buds are cut very short, leaving one side bud on each branch (as close to the ground as possible). Such buds can easily be covered for the winter and preserved. This pruning stimulates the formation of a flower bud, which will have time to mature and bloom by next spring. In addition, it stimulates the formation of flower buds on the roots, from which annual shoots emerge in the spring. They will catch up with the perennials in growth and, most likely, will also bloom.

Next spring, this bush must be intensively fed every week until August with fertilizers containing microelements and a high nitrogen content (in this case, the N:P:K ratio has proven itself to be 3:1:1). For the winter, the plant is buried just above the cut branches.

By the way, in regions with a cold climate, this pruning method will allow less frost-resistant non-repairing varieties of hydrangeas to bloom well.

Igor ARKATOV, collector, Kazan

Spirea pruning

Spring formative

Spring flowering spirea: oak-leaved; arguta, or sharp-toothed; gray or ashen; Thunberg; Wangutta; Nipponese; plumifolia.

In the first year after planting, it is only necessary to slightly shorten the skeletal shoots, remove all weak, damaged branches and those growing inside the bush.

In the second year, immediately after flowering, you need to cut off all faded shoots to the strongest and youngest side shoot. You should also remove all weak branches, cutting them out in such a way that the symmetry of the crown of the bush is maintained.

In the third and subsequent years (also after flowering), it is necessary to prune the faded branches to the strongest and youngest side shoot, cutting out the old ones (3 or more years old). Thus begins the procedure of rejuvenating the bush.

Summer formative

Spiraea summer term flowering plants (S. japonica, Boumalda, birch-leaved, Willard, Douglas) are pruned in late June or early July after flowering.

Pruning of young plants can be done with pruning shears, mature spireas may have thick shoots and may require a pruning saw.

You need to start cutting spirea of any flowering period from the first year of life. Usually, immediately after planting in the spring, all shoots are shortened by about half to a strong outer bud directed outward. All weak shoots are completely cut out.

Next, prune in the summer immediately after flowering. And first of all, all faded inflorescences are removed, which stimulates the growth of side shoots, and this will allow flowering to continue as long as possible (especially in Japanese spirea).

In the second year in the spring (around March or early April), all shoots are cut back to half their length. In summer, you can also limit yourself to trimming only faded inflorescences. In the third season, spring and summer pruning should be repeated, removing all old shoots that are more than three years old, cutting them to the ground.

Trimming lilacs

Don't break, but cut

It is advisable to prune lilacs annually or at least every other season. In the middle zone, this is done in the spring before the sap begins to flow. Since flower buds are located on the tops of shoots of last year's growth (usually the strongest, located in the upper part of the crown), they are not shortened, like fruit trees. This is the basis for future flowering. Remove all weak, thin, twisted shoots that grow inside the crown and do not have full flower buds. Broken and dried ones are cut out throughout the year. The next season, the best ones are selected from the young shoots, and the unnecessary ones are removed.

Immediately after flowering, faded panicles are cut out. This not only improves the appearance of the bush, but also relieves it of the need to expend energy on forming seeds.

In grafted plants, the formation of “wild” growth is possible: it is removed throughout the season as soon as it appears, without leaving stumps.

Rejuvenating old lilac bushes

Anti-aging pruning improves the appearance of lilacs and the quality of flowering, increases plant resistance to diseases and pests, and increases lifespan. In addition, by replacing old trunks, you can slightly reduce the height of the bushes in order to bring the flowering zone closer to human eye level. For these purposes, in early spring, old trunks with peeling bark and small growth are cut down, leaving low stumps, or they are transferred to a good, strong lateral branch. During the season, strong shoots grow on them, which form a new bush. It is better to rejuvenate very old specimens with weak shoot formation in stages, alternately removing the trunks for several years in a row. Self-rooted bushes can be pruned lower; grafted ones rejuvenate more carefully, making sure not to accidentally cut off the entire scion.

Why did honeysuckle die?

Last year I cut out all the old branches of the honeysuckle down to the ground. The plant died. Why?

Irina Churakova

If honeysuckle bushes are cut almost to the ground, only a small number of dormant buds in the root collar area may awaken, and only then if there is no drought. When rejuvenating pruning old honeysuckle bushes, stumps 30-40 cm high from the soil level are left. After this procedure, young shoots grow. It should be taken into account that too many of them can grow, so in the third year the renewed bush should be thinned out. Depending on the variety, you can leave 10-15 of the strongest and evenly spaced branches and remove the rest.

Pruning forsythia

This shrub is a bright representative of the Olive family, and even before the first leaves appear, it pleases with a magnificent fountain of golden flowers. Quite often, forezia is used to form a flowering hedge. After flowering, the bush is an excellent background for other plants.

Unfortunately, forsythia quickly thickens, losing its decorative effect, so periodic pruning is necessary. Just don’t shorten the bush too much, otherwise it will bloom poorly. Heavy pruning is only necessary if the plant has poor branching.

In the first two to three years after planting, the shoots of the seedling need to be shortened only slightly. After the first winter and every spring, sanitary pruning is done. There is no need to be afraid: it will not harm the plant; on the contrary, it stimulates the growth of shoots and makes the crown thicker. Because forsythia grows quickly, some shoots stick out unsightly from the contours of the crown. They can be pruned or better yet, pinched in time throughout the season. Starting from the 3-4th year of the bush’s life (when it grows and gets stronger), you need to start more serious pruning, not forgetting to carry out sanitary pruning every year.

It is better to prune forsythia after it has completely faded (in the middle zone this is around June). Shoots should be cut above a strong bud or a strong side shoot. All dry and old shoots should be cut down to 4-6 cm from the ground, which will stimulate the growth of new ones. This pruning will help regulate the density and height of the bush. If desired, you can give the forsyth any shape. Single bushes are usually allowed to grow well. The crown must be adjusted every three years. If this is not done, the bush may become very elongated, and it will bloom weakly and not as brightly as well-groomed specimens.

If forsythia grows in a hedge, it also needs to be pruned approximately every three seasons. And the pruning will most likely not be corrective, but rejuvenating. In this case, the shoots are shortened by 2/3 of their length or cut off completely, that is, “to the stump.” And this will give impetus to active growth from the base of the new “hair” of the bush.

Details Updated: 03/05/2015 19:09 Views: 92187

With the arrival of spring, the time comes for pruning the green inhabitants of our gardens: we need to thin out their crowns and shorten the branches. However, gardeners often go to extremes and prune during this period even those plants with pruning that are best waited until summer or autumn, such as early flowering shrubs. Therefore, pruning must be approached competently.

You can learn the basic rules of pruning from the article Pruning trees and shrubs, but ornamental trees and shrubs have certain specific care.

When pruning ornamental trees, we, first of all, We strive to give their crowns the appropriate shape and maintain it longer . We trim plants in hedges so that the foliage is dense and there are no holes in the crowns. Thanks to the regular use of pruning shears, we achieve especially rich harvests from fruit trees and berry bushes. Decorative shrubs. And also curly and container plants cut first for lush flowering. If the plant has decorative bark, then by pruning you can once again emphasize the beauty of young shoots, because over time the color of the bark of old branches becomes faded.

In addition, pruning is intended maintain the natural shape of the crown of the green inhabitants of the garden and regulate their size . But in any case, it is necessary to clearly understand that the bush is too large or already mature tree even after very heavy pruning it will not turn into an attractive dwarf plant! And, of course, do not forget that regular, especially spring, pruning of plants contributes to a more intensive emergence of new shoots.

The use of a saw and pruning shears helps to rejuvenate plants; thanks to pruning, they can regain lost strength. IN in rare cases Trees and shrubs need to be pruned radically, cutting out all the stems at the very base. This method is applicable, but with good shoot formation for hazel or forsythia bushes. For most plants, anti-aging pruning is carried out in stages.

It should be clarified! Annual growth - This is last year's growth with numerous vegetative and generative buds. The bark may be lighter than other shoots or radically different in color(for example, Derena white).

The cut must be made at an angle so that water does not stagnate on its plane, causing rotting of the wood. In addition, the distance between the cut and the bud located below is important; there is a danger that it will dry out or freeze. If, on the contrary, you retreat too far from it, a stump forms, where infection can quickly penetrate.

Pruning of ornamental trees.

Some representatives of the green kingdom become more and more picturesque over the years, so they do not need crown correction (for example, magnolia and palmate maple). But to many ornamental trees and shrubs, so that they bloom or their crowns do not lose their shape, require periodic pruning.

Decorative apple tree, for example every 2-3 years only needs regulatory pruning . At the same time, old, damaged branches that thicken the crown are removed. Regular heavy pruning is necessary only for those trees and shrubs that must maintain a certain crown shape. The same applies to plants whose flowers appear on young, newly formed shoots, for example, three-lobed almonds. Very strong pruning after flowering contributes to the fact that this year they have numerous shoots with flower buds. Many deciduous trees can withstand such radical pruning: white acacia Umbraculifera and goat willow Pendula , after pruning, they quickly become overgrown with new shoots emerging from the buds on the remaining part of the pruned branch.

For small gardens, trees with a spherical crown that can withstand heavy pruning, such as catalpa bignonia, are suitable. Nana . Regular pruning helps control the tree's growth. Such trees even tolerate heavy pruning, almost to the base of the skeletal branches.

Trees with a spherical crown.

Thanks to the dense crown of a harmonious spherical shape and bright green foliage, Robinia pseudoacacia or white acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia) Umbraculifera ideal for planting in small garden: this tree withstands even very heavy pruning extremely well; its crown can be reduced to any size without losing its presentability.

Without pruning, the diameter of the spherical crown of pseudoacacia Umbraculifera over time can reach 4-5 m. This can be prevented if every 2-3 years completely trim all branches almost to the base, leaving only short stumps . Best time For such pruning, a frost-free day is in early March. Slow growing species, e.g. Ginkgo biloba Mariken pruning is necessary only many years after planting, and in this case, you can limit yourself to only weak correction of the crown. Liquidambar resiniferous Gum Ball It is also distinguished by a beautiful spherical crown, which, as a rule, does not need pruning.

Light pruning of white locust can be done at any time of the year . But it's better in early spring. Then the young shoots will quickly hide the unsightly places in the crown that appeared after pruning.

Also trimmed:

common ash Fraxinus excelsior,
white acacia Umbraculifera,
catalpa bignoniiformes Nana.

Standard bushes are pruned according to the same principle. Three-lobed almonds with delicate pink, airy flowers look incredibly elegant. For this plant annual heavy pruning is advisable . If immediately after flowering the branches almonds shorten the three-lobed one to 10 cm, then next year it is guaranteed to have long, lush flowering branches.

In early spring, trim the standard Syrian hibiscus: depending on the size of the crown you want to see, the stems can be shortened, leaving only 2-3 buds. The upper kidney should be directed outward.

Willow wholeleaf Hakuro Nishiki The first time is pruned at the end of March. Additionally, branches can also be shortened in May and at the end of June. After each pruning, the tree produces new shoots with beautiful foliage.

Willows with a bushy crown are usually pruned in early spring. If you want to admire the flowers, you can wait to prune until the plant has finished blooming.

Globe maple holly is not pruned as much as white acacia Umbraculifera or not cut at all. Important: branches are shortened only from August to December, no later, otherwise the tree will cry.

In grafted standard plants, wild growth may appear on the rootstock. Her the same as root shoots are cut off at the base without leaving any stumps.

Plants with drooping crown.

Standard plants with romantically hanging branches invariably attract the eye. A similar weeping crown shape is found in many trees and shrubs, for example goat willow (Salix caprea) Pendula.

This tree grows quickly, so branches are shortened every year , leaving stumps about 10 cm long. Trees that have not been pruned for a long time can also be rejuvenated by heavy pruning.

If we are talking about grafted trees and shrubs, it is necessary to completely remove the game , formed on the supply below the grafting site.

Do not trim:

European beech (Fagus sylvatica) Purpurea pendula,
rough elm (Úlmus glábra) camperdownii,
warty birch (Betula pendula) Youngii,
white mulberry (Mórus álba) Penaula .

These plants with drooping crowns grow more slowly than their upright relatives. The crowns of the listed trees form on their own and do not need adjustment. Is it just damaged branches? you can cut off at the very base or shorten the branches that seem too big or long. The last procedure must be carried out in stages so that the plant does not lose its beautiful appearance.

Decorative apple trees.

While fruit trees should please first of all with a bountiful harvest, decorative types are valued primarily for their beautiful appearance. Decorative apple tree (Malus) It is especially popular due to its compact crown, brightly colored autumn foliage and fruits remaining on the branches even in winter. This tree is pruned only when necessary and always in order to preserve the harmonious appearance of the plant. To do this, in early spring, crowns growing inwards and crossing, as well as dry and damaged branches are removed.

To transform a bush-like tree into a standard one, in addition to the above branches, every year it is necessary to remove the lower lateral branches , leaving one, the longest, as the central conductor, until the desired height is reached. If it is necessary to slow down the growth of an apple tree on a vigorous rootstock, summer pruning is carried out, although then the structure of the plant is less visible.

Decorative cherry can be called a real beauty - sakura, reaching the zenith of flowering in April - May. By old trees it is enough to limit yourself to only weak thinning of the crown . And if ornamental apple trees are pruned in early spring, then it is better to prune sakura in the summer, when the flow of sap in these plants slows down and the cuts heal faster.

For vertically growing ornamental cherries, for example cherry (Prunus serrulata) Amanogawa , there is a place even in small gardens and front gardens. Their crown is good even without pruning.

Columnar yews, for example yew berry (Táxus baccáta) varieties Fastigiata Aurea , tolerates haircuts well. However only old plants are pruned or in the case when a slender shape is preferred, and the columnar crown grows in breadth.

Beautiful without trimming

While some trees and large shrubs have a naturally beautiful crown shape or acquire it through adjustments, there are a group of plants that do not benefit from pruning : many slow growing trees such as magnolia, maple (Acer palmatum) They look better with a natural shaped crown. Unless they can be slightly thinned out.

Since in slow-growing trees and shrubs, new shoots no longer appear on old wood, every step must be carefully thought out, because due to correct pruning a beautiful tree can be seen for a long time disfigure. If you don’t have pruning skills, It is best to remove branches in early spring , when even a beginner can clearly see the structure of the plant crown.

Also trimmed:

maple (Acer palmatum),
womanizer (Laburnum),
cersis (Cercis), magnolia (Magnolia),
corylopsis (Corylopsis),
witch hazel (Hamamelis),
common wolfberry
boletus.

Pruning spring flowering shrubs.

In many shrubs, which, like forsythia, bloom in the spring, flower buds appear primarily on last year's growths. If the bushes are not pruned, they age and the number of new shoots decreases. To stimulate the formation of new shoots, these Plants should be thinned out every year after flowering. . To do this, individual old branches are cut off at the soil surface. In addition, it is necessary to remove or shorten faded branches. Additionally, you can trim individual side branches directed towards the middle of the bush.

Also trimmed:

bladderwort (Physocarpus),
blood red currant (Ribes sanguineum),
deutzia, mock orange (Philadélphus),
forsythia (Forsythia),
viburnum (Viburnum opulus),
Kolkwitzia,
spirea Vanhouttei (Spiraea x vanhouttei),
Kerria,
weigela.

Pruning summer flowering shrubs.

Pruning is carried out primarily so that they bloom profusely. . In addition, thanks to regular pruning, plants acquire a beautiful compact shape.

Many shrubs that bloom in summer have flower buds on young shoots that appear in the spring. A typical example of buddleia. In order for the plant to produce as many young shoots with flower buds as possible in the spring, buddleia is pruned in the fall or early spring.

But in most early flowering plants, for example forsythia, flower buds are formed on last year's growths. If the shrub is pruned, like buddleia, in early spring, there will be very few flowers. That's why Early flowering shrubs are pruned immediately after flowering . The plants will then sprout new shoots again, laying a good foundation for flowering next year. The only exceptions are shrubs with beautiful fruits, for example, the beautiful fruit (Callicarpa) and the European euonymus. Although they bloom in the spring, if you shorten the branches immediately after flowering, you will also cut off the fruits. Such shrubs should only be rejuvenated once every 5 years, completely removing old branches in late autumn.

Some shrubs also have flowers on perennial branches. Such shrubs include irga And lilac. They do not need to be trimmed regularly, It is enough to thin out the bushes every few years . And pruning is generally contraindicated for dogwood.

When pruning a plant, many gardeners make the same mistake error:They trim overgrown bushes with hedge shears only from the top, leveling the bushes at the same height. This, in turn, can lead to plants not blooming at all or losing their attractiveness. As a result, new root shoots appear and the plant rejuvenates. The function of the old branch can be delegated to the younger lateral process.

To do this, cut the branch above the shoot selected by the side branch. The branch continues to grow, but the role of the top is now played by a young shoot. By removing only individual branches, you will help the bush maintain its natural shape, and in winter, even without leaves, it will look beautiful. In general, the more radical the pruning, the more young shoots appear on the bush. In summer they also need to be thinned out well, otherwise the bush will soon grow to the same size.

At all Strong thickening on grafted shrubs is not allowed . Otherwise, wild growth from the rootstock will quickly displace the cultivated scion.

There are shrubs, such as white and silky dera, which are not particularly distinguished by the splendor of their flowers or the color of their leaves, but they do have bright branches.

This advantage is especially noticeable in winter. However, only young shoots have a striking color; after 3-4 years, the color of the bark becomes faded. Therefore, the purpose of pruning such shrubs is to form new shoots. Plant must be thinned out every year in early spring shortly before shoots appear , cutting off all branches older than three years at the soil surface. Neglected derain bushes can be thinned out throughout the season.

They also cut:

silky turf (Cornus sericea),
willow (Salix daphnoides),
Cockburn raspberry (Rubus cockbur-nianus),
white dogwood (Cornus alba)

Beautiful with or without pruning:

flowering turf (Cornus florida)
derain kousa (Cornus kousa),
viburnum viburnum (Viburnum plicatum) Mariesii,
fothergilla,
Controversial grass (Cornus controversa),
corylopsis (Corylopsis spicata).

In order for lavender to smell fully fragrant in the summer, and for its bush to have a harmonious appearance, the plant must be trimmed 2 times a year, using hedge shears.

The first time in the spring, when the temperature begins to gradually rise, the tops of the shoots are shortened by a third, giving the bush a semicircular shape.

The second time is in the fall, when the inflorescences have already dried up. This time the peduncles are removed along with the top 2-3 pairs of leaves.

Young plants are also pruned in the same way in the first year after planting. Then the lavender grows, creating a dense carpet. If lavender is not trimmed, the shoots become woody to the very tips. In this case, the plant will lose its compact shape and will not tolerate more severe spring pruning.

Some gardeners trim lavender with pruning shears, but it is better to use hedge shears; they are easier to give the bush a uniform cushion shape. Make sure the bush takes on the shape of a hemisphere. Dry branches can be used to scent a room.

Pruning hydrangeas

Depending on the type, hydrangeas Flower buds are laid at different times of the year, and the care of each specific species depends on this. For example, large-leaved hydrangea flowers appear on last year's growths. This means that flower buds are laid on them in the summer of last year, so the plant cannot be pruned in the spring.

But paniculata hydrangea blooms on young shoots of the current year, so its bushes can be pruned quite radically. In the shade-tolerant tree hydrangea, spherical inflorescences also appear on annual growths. However, in any case, hydrangeas of all types need thorough anti-aging pruning every 3-4 years, then the bushes will always have a beautiful compact shape.

Just like every rule has its own exceptions, and here: Almost every type of hydrangea has at least one variety whose flowers are laid differently than other relatives. Therefore, it is best to learn about the characteristics of each species and variety from specialized reference books, even before purchasing a new green pet.

G Ortensia macrophylla Otrim slightly . Hydrangea grandifolia, hydrangea pollenum and hydrangea oakleaf have flowers on biennial branches. So that the bushes grow evenly and take on a beautiful shape in the first year after planting they are not cut at all . Late winter or early spring Only dry inflorescences should be removed , carefully cutting them off above the first pair of buds, but not below. Otherwise, you will remove already formed flower buds, and the plant will not bloom. And so that young shoots constantly form on the hydrangea, the bush must be thinned out every 3-4 years . To do this, cut off old branches that have begun to bloom weakly, flush with the soil surface.

Hydrangea paniculata Medium pruning is required. Hydrangea paniculata significantly different from other types of hydrangeas, with cone-shaped inflorescences. Since its flower buds form on annual branches and shoots of the current year, this plant blooms profusely, even if it has suffered from severe frosts. In the spring, during the first three years after planting, all strong skeletal branches should be shortened by a third, weaker ones by half. In an adult plant remove old branches growing in the middle of the bush, and also trim annual ones with dried inflorescences , up to four kidneys. Young shoots with flower buds appear from them. Without pruning, the bush grows greatly, in which case it will need to be thinned out as quickly as possible. Exceptions for varieties Rgaesoh And Dharuma buds appear on last year's branches (growths), so they are not pruned. Only at the end of summer can the wilting of the inflorescence be removed.

Hydrangea It is characterized by frost resistance and abundant flowering. Thanks to its bright white, pom-pom-like inflorescences - balls, it will fit perfectly into both rustic and modern style garden The hardiest variety hydrangea tree Annabelle , the flowers of which are initially painted in a soft green color, blooming, gradually turning white. This and lesser known varieties Grandiflora And White Dome , flowers appear on the shoots of the current year. Therefore, in early spring it can be done without remorse. shorten, leaving 15-20 cm above the soil surface. Thanks to such radical pruning, more inflorescences will appear on the bush, and they will be larger. Young plants should be handled more carefully and pruned more sparingly. In May, After the leaves appear, the plant is usually no longer pruned . Since these hydrangeas very heavy and large inflorescences, they need support. Advice: shorten some of the stems again in mid-June, then later bush It will begin to bloom again and this will last until autumn.

Depending on the time it takes place, they are distinguished autumn, spring and summer pruning , of which spring is considered the main one. At the same time, for each group of roses, from small flower beds to tall climbing ones, there are its own pruning rules.

Most suitable the time for spring pruning of roses comes in April , namely when forsythia flowers bloom. As a rule, this means that the threat of severe frost has already passed and the queen of flowers will soon have new shoots. However, if the rose needs to be greatly thinned out or individual old branches need to be removed, then this can be done in the fall.

Cut branches should not be left in the garden or put into compost. Then it will be possible to prevent the spread of pathogenic microbes and fungi that cause black spot and powdery mildew to other plants.

Shrub roses (remontant) single-flowering and repeat-blooming ones are pruned differently. The latter include all modern varieties, park roses, as well as many English roses that bloom magnificently all summer. Early they need to be thinned out in the spring , removing first of all dry and damaged branches. Shorten the side shoots on the outside of the bush by about 5 buds. This promotes more abundant flowering.

If desired, you can shorten the bush in height by one and two thirds of the length. Many old varieties are considered to bloom once. They bloom profusely on last year's growths. In order for shoots with flower buds to form on the plants next year, such roses should be pruned immediately after flowering.

Floribunda, hybrid tea and miniature roses.

First, dead, dry and damaged branches are removed , then the stems growing inside the bush, and trimmed to healthy tissue. Then 3-5 of the youngest and strongest stems are shortened, taking into account the growth vigor and varietal characteristics of each plant. In roses from the Floribunda and hybrid tea groups, 3-4 lower, well-developed buds are left on each stem; in vigorous varieties there are more. Miniature and ground cover roses Don't prune at all in spring , and in summer, faded inflorescences with 1-2 leaves are removed.

Climbing roses.

In remontant climbing roses in spring cut out all the old stems , leaving 5-6 strong annual growths, and if there are few of them, then several biennials, and shorten the side branches to 3-5 buds. After pruning, the stems are carefully tied to the support, if possible, directing the stems at the top horizontally or at an angle, which stimulates flowering. In summer, faded flowers are removed along with 2-3 leaves, after which the roses quickly bloom again.

Single-flowering ramblers, such as cultivars Veilchenblau , do not cause much trouble. They flower along the entire length of the overwintered stems of last year's growth, so pruning comes down to removing all old stems and shortening the side shoots to 20-25 cm.

Standard roses.

When pruning standard roses, it is important to know which group the variety grafted onto the standard belongs to. . If he belongs to hybrid tea, floribunda or shrub roses, the compact form is formed mainly by upright growing branches. To give the crown of a standard rose a rounded shape, the scion branches of such plants are shortened to 20-30 cm in early spring.

If the crown standard rose present varietal miniature roses, then they are cut off just as much. Things are different with roses with drooping stems, the so-called weeping or cascading standard roses. Their scion is climbing roses, including ramblers, as well as miniature roses with drooping stems. In cascading roses, only branches that are too long are shortened. However, in order for the rose to remain beautiful and bloom profusely from year to year, it is still necessary to remove too old branches from time to time, thereby freeing up space for the formation of young growths.

Important: Before you start pruning the queen of flowers, sharpen your pruning shears thoroughly. Then the cut will be even, and besides, you will spend less time on cutting.

It's time to start pruning your ornamental shrubs. The work is not as simple as it seems at first glance, and requires an understanding of the biology of plants and the characteristics of their growth.

Jasmine (mock orange)

Do not use pruning shears without a clear understanding of the purpose of pruning. But goals are different...

Sanitary pruning, or cleaning. We remove all dry, broken, diseased and damaged branches.
Formative, or structural pruning. Let's look at the bush from the outside and imagine the image of the plant that we will strive for for several years. Having determined the optimal shape of the bush, we remove all unnecessary things, cut out branches that cross, shade each other, or grow towards the center.
Rejuvenating, or deep pruning. Once every three years, we cut out some of the old branches to the base.
Radical pruning, or “landing on a stump.” Every year at the beginning of April we trim the entire bush to a short stump.

The timing of pruning depends on the type of pruning and the growth characteristics of the shrubs.

Early spring. Pruning, which is carried out from the end of frost until the buds open, coincides with the natural rhythms of plant life and therefore stimulates powerful shoot growth.
Early summer. After active sap flow is completed, spring-flowering shrubs and vines are pruned at the beginning of shoot growth.
Summer pruning. Until August, branches are selectively removed to curb vegetative growth.

Pruning technique

The cut site should be smooth, without damage to the bark and cambium, which will “heal” the wound. Thin branches (up to a centimeter in diameter) are removed with pruning shears, thicker ones - with a garden saw or lopper. When shortening the branches, they make a “bud cut”.

The sections are immediately covered with garden varnish or sealed with adhesive tape. Sections with a diameter of less than 0.5 cm do not need to be processed.

The need for pruning of various shrubs

Features of pruning shrubs depend on the characteristics of its growth. Conventionally, shrubs can be divided into several groups.

First trimming group

These are deciduous shrubs that bloom in spring and early summer. New shoots are always formed in the lower part of the bush or in the middle of last year's branches, and flower buds are formed on last year's growths.

Shrubs of this group are pruned immediately after flowering. They are treated with sanitary pruning in the spring and maintenance pruning (once every three years) in the spring after flowering, while approximately half of all old branches are completely removed. If the bush has not been pruned for a long time, try to rejuvenate it by cutting it almost to the ground.

This group includes tall spring-flowering spirea(sharp-toothed, Thunberg, Vangutta, crenate, oak-leaved, Nippon, gray, or ash), forsythia, mock orange(garden jasmine), deutzia, weigela, Japanese kerria, ornamental currant, tree peony and other early flowering shrubs.

Most of them age quickly: noticeably fewer flowers form on old branches, the branches become bare and the bush loses its decorative appearance.

Kerria japonica.

Kerria japonica, which often freezes in winter, can be cut short all over; it manages to grow up to a meter in a season and even bloom. The resulting bushes have a neater shape than the old ones that were falling apart. Particularly interesting are the variegated forms of kerria planted on a stump.

Weigela Red Prince.

Weigelu Theoretically, you can’t prune it too much (it won’t bloom). But weigels have a fairly high shoot-forming ability, so frozen plants can be safely cut to zero: by autumn they even bloom with a few flowers.

European forsythia.

forsythia, In which most flowers are formed on three-year-old branches, they do not touch them unless absolutely necessary, only sanitary pruning is carried out.

Second trimming group

This group includes deciduous shrubs that bloom in mid-summer and autumn, in which flowers form on the shoots of the current year: buddleia, summer-blooming spirea(Japanese, Douglas, white-flowered, willow), paniculata hydrangea, tree hydrangea, shrubby cinquefoil.

To maintain the compact, beautiful shape of these shrubs, in early spring, last year’s annual shoots are radically pruned to a short stump 10-15 cm high. Thin, weak branches are cut to the base. Wilted inflorescences are also cut off, but in hydrangeas the inflorescences, which retain their decorative value until the end of the season, are not touched.

Hydrangea

When pruned annually, Japanese spirea produce dense, profusely flowering, colorful plants.

This group also includes deciduous subshrubs: karyopteris, lavatera, lavender, fragrant rue. The shoots of these plants become lignified only in the lower part, and the upper part, as a rule, freezes in winter.

They are not pruned early in the spring, but a little later, when the buds in the lower part of the bush wake up and you can see how much to shorten the stems.

Third group of pruning

This group includes deciduous ornamental deciduous shrubs (white dogwood, different types elderberry).

Derain It is distinguished not only by its beautiful leaves, but also by its very bright red or cherry bark. But it only happens like this on young shoots; with age, the bark turns gray and the leaves become smaller.

Always bright branches can be achieved only by annual or once every two years “planting on a stump”, that is, in early spring short trimming(usually stumps of 10-15 cm are left). Don't be afraid to do this: the turf grows over the season.

Almost all species require heavy pruning in spring. elderberries. In addition, black elderberry varieties freeze heavily in winter. After pruning, elderberry quickly grows back and appears in all the glory of its large carved leaves.
Tamarix and myricaria They also freeze. But they are heavily pruned every year, even in countries with mild climates (so as not to stretch out). After pruning, the plant shoots grow 1-1.5 m and look wonderful, surprising with their delicacy.

Fourth trimming group

This includes all shrubs that do not regularly form replacement shoots at the base of the bush. Shrubs that produce new shoots only from the apical and upper lateral buds along the periphery of the crown bloom and remain viable without maintenance pruning. Older branches are not superfluous here - they form the crown.

All types of hawthorn, serviceberry, lilac, deciduous euonymus, cotoneasters, viburnums, leather mackerel, ornamental varieties of cherries, plums and apple trees, bush maples only need sanitary pruning and crown thinning.

Needs special pruning more than others lilac. Without pruning, flowering becomes sparse, growths and inflorescences become smaller

Lilac flower buds are located on the tops of last year's growths located in the upper part of the crown, so they cannot be shortened. In a well-developed bush, you can remove part of the shoots with flower buds, leaving the strongest and best located ones, then the remaining inflorescences will be larger. For the same purpose, all weak crowns growing inward, intersecting, and competing shoots are cut into a ring.

Lilacs are pruned in the spring, before sap flows. Before setting seeds, remove faded panicles, being careful not to damage nearby shoots with leaves on which new flower buds are formed.

Fifth trimming group

This group includes evergreen shrubs and creeping forms (rhododendrons, evergreen species of viburnum and cotoneaster, cherry laurel, dwarf forms of willow and gorse). Due to uniform growth along the perimeter of the crown, they form a strong, beautiful bush without pruning. Only diseased or frozen shoots are removed in the spring.

Subtleties of pruning

Shorten branches with long internodes a few millimeters above the outward-facing bud. This applies to bush maples, hydrangeas, weigels, as well as shrubs with hollow shoots (forsythia, elderberry, some honeysuckle).
The vitality and splendor of flowering of many ornamental shrubs is stimulated by maintenance or maintenance pruning, when, by removing old branches, space is made for younger and stronger shoots. Shrubs that have been neglected or have been pruned incorrectly for years can be brought into order with the help of anti-aging pruning.
Pay attention to the natural shape of the shrubs. It is hardly possible to keep the bush small for a long time or force it to grow unnaturally without harming the flowering. When performing maintenance pruning, try to preserve the natural appearance of the plant, and not cut all the branches “with the same comb.” Start pruning from the bottom of the bush and work your way up. This will save you from double work, since thinner branches are removed at the same time as the whole branch.
In most cases, the death of old shoots in shrubs is a natural process and should not cause much concern.

To understand at what interval to cut out old shoots to rejuvenate the bush, you need to know the life expectancy of one shoot: for spring-flowering spirea and shrubby cinquefoil - 3-5; for mock oranges, rosehips, weigels, barberries - 5-10 years.

Shoots of tall shrubs (lilac, hawthorn) live much longer. Old branches are identified by weak lateral branches with many short growths.

Decorative vines are pruned after the leaves bloom in late spring or summer. Early spring pruning is dangerous due to strong sap flow. More often, only dry and poorly placed shoots are cut out.

Every time we buy seedlings of new varieties of ornamental shrubs, we rejoice like children, imagining what a miracle will grow in our garden in just 2-3 years - almost the same as in a luxurious photograph from a colorful catalogue. But time passes, and an interesting thing becomes clear - it turns out that in order to see the desired miracle in your garden, you need to work hard on creating conditions for the “living” of the new settler and on shaping his appearance. The most important point in caring for trees and shrubs is pruning. The time has come to talk in more detail about at what time and in what way ornamental shrubs are pruned.

To prune ornamental shrubs or not

There is little information about the rules for pruning ornamental shrubs, in contrast to the fruit segment. In order to remove diseased and dead shoots, restrain excessively rapid growth of the crown, and ensure lush and long flowering, painstaking and serious pruning work is required. For each variety, their own methods are developed, taking into account the characteristics of the plant. Conventionally, plants are divided into flowering shrubs and decorative deciduous bushes.

Tools for pruning ornamental shrubs

For any type of pruning, you may need a garden saw, a lopper, a pruning shear with two blades, a garden knife for trimming annual growth, a hedge trimmer for performing formative pruning and trimming hedges, a ladder, garden pitcher or rannet paste. All instruments must be sharp and sterile. A day after pruning, treat sections with a diameter greater than 7 mm with garden varnish or wound-healing paste.

Types of pruning ornamental shrubs

All ornamental shrubs require timely and correct pruning, aimed at removing dead and damaged shoots, restraining rapid growth and forming a beautiful crown (by cutting and thinning), stimulating flowering, as well as rejuvenating old bushes.

In relation to ornamental shrubs, there are 3 types of pruning:

sanitary
formative
rejuvenating.

Sanitary pruning of ornamental shrubs in spring

Almost all shrubs need sanitary pruning. Formative is needed by the majority. There are only a small number of shrubs that do not require formative pruning. An annual sanitary pruning every spring is enough for them, during which all weak, frozen, intersecting shoots are removed.

removing diseased, drying, broken, hanging down, intertwined branches;
removal of coppice and top shoots (raising the crown);
cuttings of “pins”;
formation of a uniformly translucent and ventilated crown.

Formative pruning of ornamental shrubs in spring

This technique is used for shrubs that are grown in molded hedges and require constant pruning. So: if you form a hedge in the spring, you remove only the growth of the previous year. If you prefer a haircut in the second half of summer, you will remove the current year’s growth accordingly. You may need to do both spring and summer pruning if you are dealing with fast-growing plants. (Please note: we are talking about pruning bushes that have already been formed for the hedge and have reached the required height and dimensions).

Formative pruning of ornamental shrubs will help you keep the plant neat and compact - in the given sizes and shapes. And remember: once you have used this type of pruning, it is advisable to do the same thing annually.

Note: small plants can be cut with scissors or an electric trimmer. For large ones, you need to use pruning shears, since damaged leaves and stumps remaining from the shoots will turn brown and die.

Rejuvenating pruning of ornamental shrubs in spring

Anti-aging pruning for ornamental crops, this procedure is also very useful. Rejuvenating pruning of ornamental shrubs is carried out in the spring, cutting off at least half of the old shoots from the plants. In some cases, branches are removed completely, but this can only be done with those crops that are actively growing young root shoots. Plants whose shoots come not from the root, but from the branches, are not cut off at the root, but small stumps 15 cm high are left.

You can learn about the need for a rejuvenating haircut at appearance shoots. When there are fewer of them, they grow thinner and weaker - this is a signal that the tree needs rejuvenation. Gardeners also have a practice of “radical rejuvenation”. This procedure is resorted to when the crop not only stops producing strong shoots, but generally does not grow even short thin shoots well. In this case, the branches are cut to the root collar. A powerful and developed root system will grow a fairly large amount of green mass next season. The strongest specimens are selected from new branches, and others are cut off as unnecessary for several years.

Curly pruning of ornamental shrubs in spring

The best examples of curly pruning of shrubs are considered to be the so-called living sculptures. To create various shapes from shrubs, it is very important to ensure that they are evenly covered from top to bottom with leaves or pine needles.

In order to perform curly pruning of shrubs with your own hands, you need to choose the right plants and shape them accordingly.

The simplest way to have in the garden living sculpture- this is to purchase shrubs in the form of your desired sculptural form. The best sculptures are made from evergreens such as boxwood, privet, holly, cherry laurel, and bay laurel. However, in central Russia, most species of evergreen plants in open ground In winter they freeze or die. Therefore, only coniferous and deciduous shrubs are suitable for creating living sculptures in the garden. For small figures it is very good to use spirea, honeysuckle, elm, cotoneaster, barberry, mahonia, Japanese quince, etc.

Small-leaved linden, hawthorn, spruce, hazel, small-leaved elm, apple berry and some others are quite suitable for creating larger figures. Figures formed from evergreens, and above all boxwood, look very beautiful.

Ornamental shrubs that do not require spring pruning

Some ornamental shrubs do not like pruning because they have a low ability to regenerate. Their wounds heal with great difficulty, or their habitus remains distorted for a long time. Such shrubs include magnolia, witch hazel, flowering dogwood, viburnum, hibiscus, cherry laurel, dogwood, and serviceberry. In such plants, it is enough just to remove the old branches and in no case carry out severe anti-aging pruning.

Ornamental shrubs and their pruning. How to update plants

Do shrubs need to be trimmed?

Trimming: terms

How to trim and shape the crown - some subtleties

Types of shrub pruning

Early formative pruning

Formation of bushes with a free-growing crown

Formation of the crown in the form of a ball, trapezoid, pyramid

Formative pruning

First trimming group

Second trimming group

Third group of pruning

Fourth trimming group

Anti-aging pruning

When to do anti-aging pruning

Rules for pruning standard fruit bushes

Trimming topiary plants

Shaped pruning of shrubs

Hedges

Some rules for cutting hedges

Pruning subshrubs

Spirea pruning

Trimming lilacs

Pruning forsythia

Pruning of ornamental trees.

Trees with a spherical crown.

Plants with drooping crown.

Decorative apple trees.

Beautiful without trimming

Pruning spring flowering shrubs.

Pruning summer flowering shrubs.

Pruning hydrangeas

Floribunda, hybrid tea and miniature roses.

Climbing roses.

Standard roses.

The timing of pruning depends on the type of pruning and the growth characteristics of the shrubs.

Pruning technique

The need for pruning of various shrubs

First trimming group

Second trimming group

Third group of pruning

Fourth trimming group

Fifth trimming group

Subtleties of pruning

To prune ornamental shrubs or not

Tools for pruning ornamental shrubs

Types of pruning ornamental shrubs

Sanitary pruning of ornamental shrubs in spring

Formative pruning of ornamental shrubs in spring

Rejuvenating pruning of ornamental shrubs in spring

Curly pruning of ornamental shrubs in spring

Ornamental shrubs that do not require spring pruning

Features of pruning ornamental shrubs