Proper pruning is essential to improve how your plants grow, flower, fruit, resist disease, and how long they live. This pamphlet explains the practical procedures for pruning a majority of your garden plants. For fruit trees, shade trees, and flowering trees follow these four basic rules:

  1. Remove all weak and diseased branches
  2. Remove all branches growing towards the center
  3. Remove the weakest of crossing branches
  4. Remove the weakest of parallel branches

You should remove all twigs and branches at the intersection with another branch with a clean cut leaving no stubs. You should seal all cuts over one inch in diameter with a pruning paste or spray.

Flowering Shrubs

Pruning shrubs that flower on OLD wood (ex. Forsythia, Spiraea, Weigela, etc). Most of the flowering shrubs in your garden are in this group. New shoots grow from the ground level each year. Flowers grow on two, three, and four-year old wood. You should prune these plants only after they have finished flowering. You should prune the oldest growth, more than four years old, off at the ground level.

  1. Remove weak and diseased branches
  2. Remove all shoots over four years old at the ground level

Pruning shrubs that flower on NEW wood (ex. Roses, Buddleia, PeeGee Hydrangea, etc). This group of plants produces flowers only on new wood. You should prune these plants in the spring (March or April) by heading back.

  1. Remove weak and diseased branches
  2. Remove branches growing towards the center
  3. Remove crossing branches
  4. Cut back all remaining branches to between 10 cm to 30cm (4-12 inches)

Click here for more information and to download the full Practical Pruning Guide.