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Find a Business or PersonPruning & Pinching
Pruning Styles for ShrubsSince the early Renaissance, manicured shrubs have been a fixture of formal gardens. Centuries later, landscape designers often created gardens and groups of shrubs around a house. You can choose from a variety of styles for the effect you want. |
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Pruning Various Types of RosesFirst remove any deadwood down to the nearest healthy, dormant bud eye. Make the cut at least 1 inch below the dead area. If no live buds remain, remove the entire branch or cane to the bud union. Examine the plant carefully for canker and other diseases. |
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Pruning, Thinning & Training Fruit TreesThinning a fruit tree is similar to pinching blooms on flowering plants. The goal is to concentrate more energy to less blooms, or fruit. Pull excess fruit off by hand when it reaches 0.5 inch in diameter, then remove the tiniest fruit several weeks later. Take care not to harm flowering spurs on apples or other trees. The fruit stem should remain attached to the spur or branch or injury can result. |
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Should daylilies be cut back after blooming, and when should they be fertilized?You can keep Hemerocallis, or daylily, neater in appearance by cutting the flowering stalks down to soil level when flowering stops. These are easy-care plants, performing best when they receive fertilizer (5-10-10) in the spring prior to bloom and another application in late winter. |
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Tree PruningIts important to properly time your pruning. The best time is generally before new growth starts. Pruning in late winter or early spring while a plant is dormant won't adversely affect its vigor, but pruning at other times can rob it of stored food energy. |
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What is the proper method for pruning trees and shrubs?The best time to prune any woody plant is just before new growth starts. The worst time to prune is right after leaves emerge in spring. Pruning in late winter or early spring while a plant is dormant will not adversely affect its vigor; but pruning at other times can rob it of stored food energy. Severe pruning during or just after active growth in spring only wastes stored energy. Such pruning can dwarf a plant and is not recommended unless a dwarfing effect is the goal, such as for a bonsai. |
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When and how much should a gardenia bush be pruned?Gardenias do quite well without pruning. However, sometimes pruning is necessary to keep an older bush "in bounds." Pruning should be done soon after flowering to avoid reducing next year's bloom. Thin out old, non-productive growth and remove broken or diseased branches. |
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When is the best time to prune azalea bushes and rhododendrons?Both rhododendrons and azaleas develop flower buds during the summer for next spring's bloom. They should be pruned right after blooming so they'll have a full season to develop flower and leaf buds. If you prune them in late summer or early fall, you may be cutting off next year's flush of bloom. Sometimes it's necessary to renovate a shrub, and you can expect few if any blooms the following spring. You can prune them in steps, cutting back just one-third of the shrub each year for three years. That way you'll lose only some of the bloom, and in three years the plant is back in shape. |
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