Pruning bushes in spring. How to prune ornamental shrubs. Pruning main shrubs

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 owners of personal plots take a fresh look at the need to form a crown, learn pruning techniques and learn about its intricacies for various types 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 main principle in this matter, 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 the 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 complete removal branches or shoots. 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 chosen - 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 strong 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 help the plant grow faster. root system. If you do not prune, from each awakened bud only a small shoot of length and thickness will grow, since the root system of 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 this.

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

1. When pruning, it is important to follow some rules.
2. Do not leave stumps and cuttings split.
3. Remove dry, diseased and broken shoots.
4. When shortening a shoot, make the cut at an angle above a bud or side branch, without leaving a stump.
5. Remember: it is better to pinch the shoot in a timely manner than to trim it later.
6. 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.
7. It is important to always use only high quality cutting tool, definitely sharp and clean.
8. 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.
9. Use the pruning shears so that it does not touch other shoots.
10. 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 shoot being cut. 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.
11. 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.
12. After trimming and smoothing out uneven areas, the sections must be covered with garden varnish.
13. 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 do this if you grew the 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) 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, evergreens as well coniferous shrubs should not be pruned before the age of four. 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 the overall appearance. 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 placed under a bush small frame. When the shoots get used to growing in this position, the supports can be removed. This technique will return the bush decorative look.

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 removing 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, Nippon, 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 must be cut out regularly and to the ground - they are usually no longer productive.

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 large number flowers, or abundant flowering will come 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 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 all top part last year's growths 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 the 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, cutting to 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 shrinking of the flowers becomes noticeable (usually after a few years) should you cut off all the shoots on the bush.

Plants can be rejuvenated

Shrubs age over time. However, different types this happens at different rates. For example, in the willow spirea, colored lilac, mountain ash, wild rose and wrinkled 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 shoots or the formation of weak shoots.

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 differs little 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 specimen 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 stumps, at best, will dry out, and at worst, they may begin to rot. And this is an “open door” for various 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 barberry (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 with 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, 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. Chokeberries look great in this form ( chokeberry), grafted on mountain ash; 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 their 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 not 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 throughout the season to remove shoots both on the stem and those extending from the ground (from the roots), as well as pluck out the emerging buds. Then all the nutrition will be spent on the formation of a 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 are usually shaped into a bouquet, and floribunda groups are often cut into a hemisphere.

Nice 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 shoots. 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.

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 must necessarily insulate both the crown and root system or store them in 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.

Create a standard plant, despite its apparent complexity appearance, 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.

On 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 purpose, 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

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, they do not always use pruning; 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 also densely branched plants that can easily tolerate 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 autumn planting 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 blooming 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.

A hedge of summer-flowering shrubs, such as David's buddleia, needs to be pruned heavily, every spring, and it will bloom profusely 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 enhance 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 more large 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 the desired 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 rectangular and trapezoidal hedges. 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 best form hedge - 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 appearance.

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 in some cases It is even possible to cut it “to the stump” (in the photo), after which you will have to form it 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. Much faster to complete electric tool. However, immediately after cutting, you can see how the leaves are worn out and not quite in the right places cuts are made. 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 low curb, which 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 shoots. 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 approach 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. Will help strengthen the strength of shoots weak solution potassium permanganate. I water my hydrangeas with it several times during the summer.

Garden hydrangeas need to be trimmed very carefully. 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

There are subtleties in pruning large-leaved hydrangea (H. macrophylla). 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 prune 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 from 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 ripen 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

Spiraea spring term flowering: oak-leaved; arguta, or sharp-toothed; gray or ashy; 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

Summer-flowering spirea (S. japonica, Boumalda, birch-leaved, Willard, Douglas) are pruned at the end of June or beginning of 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 spireas).

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 the flower buds are located on the tops of the shoots of last year's growth (usually the strongest, located in the upper part of the crown), they are not shortened, as in 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 good strong side 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.

Forsythia pruning

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. Cut down all dry and old shoots 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.

It is impossible to leave ornamental and fruit shrubs in the garden unattended, as in this case the young shoots will develop uncontrollably and the crown will become too thick. Shrub pruning in the spring is carried out according to a scheme that allows you to accelerate the growth of young shoots and prolong the fruiting of the crop. Pruning is carried out not only in spring, but also in autumn, guided by certain rules.

Deadlines spring pruning trees and shrubs, features of the procedure with photos and videos will be described in today’s article.

When working in the garden, we try to carefully follow all recommendations for fertilizing the soil, watering and pest control, however, when it comes to shrubs, many novice gardeners make a typical mistake: they forget about thinning them.

At first glance, it is not so necessary, but over time, when the bush grows, there is an understanding that this procedure is really important (Figure 1). Since a great variety of all kinds of shrubs are grown in our domestic gardens, it is natural that it is almost impossible to know the rules for pruning each of them. However, there are some general points, knowledge of which will be useful for all plants.

What you need for pruning

If you have a question about whether it is worth pruning your bushes, you can rest assured: it is not only worth it, but also necessary. After all, this procedure has a significant impact on the entire viability of the plant.

Remember that the main task when pruning is not to do harm, therefore, when starting work, you need to plan in advance what needs to be removed and for what purpose (for health; for the purpose of regulating growth; for the formation of fruits). Prepare all the necessary equipment, read the rules and get to work.

Pruning such plants in the spring is not only carried out according to a plan, but also has certain rules that help maintain the viability of the crop and extend its fruiting period.

Basic rules for pruning berry crops spring includes such moments s (Figure 2):

1. It is necessary to use only well-sharpened tools, which must be clean.
2. Try to injure the plant as little as possible. Use different tools depending on the situation. For example, thin branches are cut with pruning shears, and thick branches with a hacksaw.
3. When using pruners, make sure that they do not touch neighboring shoots that cannot be removed.
4. Stumps and cuttings should not be left split. The correct cut has a smooth surface and straight edges. All irregularities should be smoothed out with a garden knife and covered with garden varnish. If the cut surface exceeds 3 cm in diameter, then it is better to use oil paint.
5. Diseased, dry and broken shoots must be removed. The branches of weak plants are shortened as much as possible, but strong and healthy ones should not be shortened too much.
6. When shortening the shoot, the cut is made at an angle above the bud (side branch), without leaving a stump.
7. Cutting down thick horizontal branches is carried out in several stages. On the first one, a cut is made from below, with a depth of a quarter of the diameter of the branch being cut. Then they retreat 1-2 cm from the main branch and make a second cut from above towards the first. They saw the shoot until it breaks off along the fiber. The resulting stump must also be carefully cut down.

Do not forget that pinching the shoot in a timely manner will save you from trimming it.

Peculiarities

In general, pruning any type of shrub (ornamental or berry) helps make it more neat and attractive. To carry out the procedure correctly, you need to know some of the structural features of the bush. Thus, the shoots of the culture develop from buds, which are located on the basal part of the stem. For this reason, when planting, the root collar should not be buried more than 5-8 cm, otherwise the shoots will not grow.

Note: When planted correctly, shrubs grow in height very quickly. Therefore, in order for them to begin to produce additional shoots, that is, to begin to bush, when planting, it is recommended to shorten the longest branches to the same length. In this case, broken shoots are shortened to the first healthy bud, and weak shoots are removed completely.

Trimming conditions

Pruning should become the same mandatory garden activity as watering, weeding or fertilizing. By neglecting it, we contribute to the thickening of the plant crown, thus creating conditions for the development of various pests and diseases. Therefore, it is recommended to thin out every year. If for some reason the bush has not been pruned for a long time, and its crown is in a neglected state, you will have to remove a large number of shoots to thin it out. In this case, it is advisable to extend this procedure over several years so as not to harm the plant too much.

A typical mistake when growing shrubs is the idea that only mature plants need to be pruned. However, experience shows that it is very difficult or simply impossible to change an already formed crown. It is for this reason that it is recommended to carry out the formative procedure on a young plant.

With the arrival of spring there is more work in the garden. Among the many troubles, do not forget to pay attention to berry and ornamental shrubs. As soon as the snow melts at their base, you can begin thinning the berry bushes, if such work was not carried out in the fall (Figure 3). If time has been lost and the buds begin to bloom, pruning cannot be done.

Note: Among the decorative ones, tree-like ones (lilac, euonymus) are pruned first, since they form growths on the periphery of the crown. They undergo sanitary and rejuvenating cleaning.

You should know that among the ornamental shrubs, lilac needs pruning the most. Therefore, in the spring it is necessary to remove all weak shoots growing inside the crown, which intersect with each other and interfere with full growth. Old bushes need to be rejuvenated by cutting down trunks with loose bark. The surface of uneven cuts must be cleaned with a knife and cleared of sawdust, then treated with any disinfectant, for example, garden pitch. If juice comes out from the cut area, you need to wait until it dries and only then cover the surface.

Features of spring pruning of shrubs are shown in the video.

Pruning fruit bushes in autumn

Autumn pruning of fruit bushes stimulates the growth of new branches and also increases the quantity and quality of fruits. It is known that by autumn, the nutrients accumulated by the plant over the summer pass from the leaves to the trunk, shoots and root system, and the plant itself enters a dormant period (Figure 4). You can identify it by fallen leaves. It is at this time that thinning is recommended berry bushes, since carrying out this procedure in the spring can lead to the loss of nutrients that return to the growing points.

The first pruning of the fruit bush is carried out in the year of planting and is repeated every autumn. In this case, the method of thinning depends on the age at which the plant was most productive. Thus, for black currants, the most productive are two-year-old shoots, but there are almost no berries on five-year-old branches. It is for this reason that it is necessary to remove old branches so that new young shoots can replace them. In this case, you should remove as many old shoots as you intend to leave young ones. Young shoots are cut to a third of their length, and the tops of 2-3-year-old shoots with 3-5 buds are cut off. The same principle applies to red and white currants, as well as gooseberries. The only difference is that not five-year-old branches, but seven-year-old branches are completely removed.

Raspberries also have their own characteristics. Its aboveground stems live only two years, during the first of which buds are formed on the shoot, which bear fruit in the second year of the shoot’s life and die completely in the fall. That's why annual pruning Raspberry cultivation involves removing dead two-year-old shoots and shortening young shoots to developed buds. Since raspberries tend to grow quickly, it is necessary to regularly thin out the raspberry tree, leaving 15 to 18 stems per linear meter.

Tools for pruning trees and shrubs

When pruning and shaping trees and shrubs in their garden plot, gardeners use special equipment, which includes: pruning shears, loppers, garden knife and garden saw (Figure 5).

The pruner is the most popular tool for pruning trees and shrubs due to its versatility. They can be used to trim small branches of medium thickness (up to 2.5 cm), remove shoots and dry shoots. A pruner with elongated handles is called a lopper. It is convenient for working on high altitude, where it is difficult to reach.

A special garden knife is used for trimming stems and branches, as well as for cleaning out irregularities at the cutting and grafting sites. The advantage over a regular knife is a comfortable handle and a durable blade. The same handle is equipped with a small garden saw, which has comfortable weight and sharpening with very correct wiring. It is useful for trimming branches whose diameter exceeds 3 cm. In this case, the cut area will be even and smooth.

When choosing tools for working in the garden, give preference to quality and good quality, because with proper care they will serve you for a long time. Make sure that the springs on the tools are always lubricated and the nuts are tightened; the cutting edge must be sharpened only on one side. And, of course, do not forget that all tools must be kept clean. Therefore, immediately after use, clean them with a soft, dry cloth.

Sanitary pruning of trees and shrubs makes it possible to restore the decorative qualities of the crown of plants, as well as improve their fruiting quality (Figure 6). In addition, with regular practice of this type of pruning, the risk of wood and bark disease is reduced.

Indications for sanitary pruning are the presence of dry (damaged) shoots, excessive thickening of the crown, broken (or completely broken) branches hanging in the crown, overgrown and intertwined shoots. In other words, the main goal of sanitary pruning is to remove branches (shoots) that pose a danger to both humans and the plant itself.

What's special

In conditions home garden the need for sanitary pruning arises when plants are infected with diseases or damaged by pests. For example, fruit trees are often affected by fungi during the flowering period, when the use chemicals unacceptable. In this case, sanitary pruning is carried out, removing the affected and diseased branches and thus saving the entire plant.

However, this does not mean that healthy plants do not need this type of pruning. Very often, the skeletal branches of fruit trees break under the weight of the fruit or due to strong winds. Therefore, there is a need to carry out sanitary pruning, cutting and sawing out broken shoots.

When needed

As a rule, planned sanitary pruning of fruit trees and shrubs is carried out in the spring, in March - April, when all branches are clearly visible. In addition to the cleansing effect, spring sanitary pruning stimulates the growth of shoots. If it is carried out during the period of mass flowering or after it, then this leads to the rapid growth of flower buds. However, you should know that summer sanitary pruning interferes with the growing season, so it is carried out selectively, only to remove unnecessary branches.

Lilacs and deutia are pruned in spring and summer, but hydrangea, tamarisk and spirea are pruned only in spring. Trees and bushes that bloom in the spring should be pruned after flowering.

Rules

Gardeners with many years of experience are advised to follow the following rules for sanitary pruning (Figure 7):

1. It is carried out only on rooted plants.
2. Sick and dry branches are cut off from the healthy part. The branches are removed into a ring, the shoots are removed above the outer bud, without touching it.
3. The cut area should be smooth, without burrs or torn edges. In this case, vertical branches must be cut obliquely to prevent water stagnation.
4. Large branches are cut down in three steps. The first cut is made 30 cm from the trunk, at the bottom of the branch, a quarter of the thickness deep. The second time the branch is sawn from above, 5 cm further from the first cut. During the third step, the remaining stump is cut down.

It is customary to lubricate the cut areas with a disinfectant and drying agent, for example, garden pitch. The exception is conifers trees whose wounds cannot be covered.

In autumn, trees and shrubs enter a dormant period. By this time, nutrients from the leaves are transferred to the trunk, branches and roots, and the leaves fall off.

Sada can be produced throughout the dormant period, right up to the swelling of the buds in the spring. It is advisable to prune berry bushes only in the fall, since in the spring they begin to grow very early and when pruned they can lose nutrients that have already moved to the growth points.

Pruning berry bushes has great influence on their productivity. In the year of planting, the first pruning is carried out and this is done every autumn.

How to prune a shrub depends on the age at which its branches are more productive. For example, black currants begin to bear fruit abundantly on two-year-old branches, but by the fifth year there will be no more berries on them. Therefore, it is necessary to promptly remove branches that have expired and leave instead new shoots coming from the base of the bush.

A good currant bush (properly formed) has 15-20 shoots of different ages, extending directly from the roots. That is, annual autumn pruning consists of removing old five-year-old branches and excess shoots that thicken the bush. You need to leave exactly as many strong young shoots as you removed the old ones. The remaining annual shoots are cut off by a third of their length, thereby enhancing the development of fruit branches. The tops of 2-3 year old shoots with 3-5 buds are cut off.

Gooseberries, red and red berries are pruned using the same principle. white currants. The only difference is that the branches of these crops are replaced at the age of seven years; they are more durable.

Aboveground raspberry stems only live for two years, but many new ones grow from the rhizome. The raspberry shoot grows in the first year, and in the fall fruit buds are laid on it. The next year it bears fruit and dies completely by autumn. The annual method consists of removing dead two-year-old shoots and shortening one-year-old shoots to well-developed buds. Raspberries must be thinned out regularly; only 15-18 stems are left per linear meter.

How to prune currants in the fall - video

For a novice gardener, this problem is one of the most painful. How to cut? When to cut? How much to cut? There are so many plants, they are all so different... At some point it may seem that you will never master this wisdom.

In fact, everything is not as difficult as it seems. After gardening for several years, you will intuitively begin to understand how pruning a particular plant depends on the time of its flowering, growth characteristics and branching.

Of course, experimenting for years is not at all necessary. You can open a book and find out everything at once. But here’s the problem: we have a problem with good literature on this topic. One book will intelligently explain to you how to prune summer-blooming and spring-blooming spireas. From the other you will understand how to cut wood. But building a coherent and logical system based on this fragmentary information is very difficult.

At one time, I bought all the books in Russian and English, on the covers of which it was written: “Cutting...” And finally, I found what I was looking for. It was the English edition: `Successful Pruning`. I flipped through it, and somehow everything immediately fit into my head.

Today we offer you an adapted translation of this publication. Not the whole book, of course. But what seems most important to us. We offer you a harmonious and understandable, as it seems to us, system for pruning ornamental shrubs.

Actually, the whole system comes down to nine pruning techniques, which will be outlined below.

TECHNIQUE 1. CUT TO MAINTAIN SHAPE

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 will help you keep the plant neat and compact - in the desired size and shape. 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.

(For more information on trimming hedges, see the articles on our website.)

Using technique 1, the following are pruned: hedges of barberries, privet, hawthorn, honeysuckle, cotoneaster, snowberry.

It is always recommended to prune Salix lantana using technique 1 to maintain its shape.

TECHNIQUE 2. REMOVING HALF OF THE NEW GROWTH

Do not allow broom and other gorse bushes to spread wide and expose the base. Trim new growth by half each year. Start doing this when the plant is still young. If several years are missed for pruning, in the future young shoots will grow, falling down from the old coarsened branches, which will sharply reduce the decorative value of the shrub. Trim back any new green shoots to encourage new branches and bush growth. Do not prune onto old, rough wood. Remove dead branches completely.

After pruning, the bush will look more elegant and compact.

Prune shrubs such as gorse after the flowers have faded but before the seeds have ripened.

Using technique 2, the following are pruned: Russian broom, creeping broom, English gorse.

TECHNIQUE 3. CUT OFF DEAD ENDS

Prune heathers and similar plants by removing dead shoot tips with scissors. This will help the plant to be slender and compact and encourage it to bloom.

Once the flowers begin to die, remove them with scissors. Wait until spring to prune fall-blooming heathers.

Remove shoots close to the base of the current year's growth. Do not prune onto old, dark wood.

Technique 3 is used to cut heathers and almost all erics.

TECHNIQUE 4. SHORTENING THE SIDE BRANCHES

We are talking about shrubs that bloom on the shoots of the previous year. As a rule, these are summer-flowering shrubs. Pruning such shrubs stimulates the growth of a large number of lateral branches and more abundant flowering. The shoots should be trimmed by one third from the top to well-developed buds immediately after flowering. (Hydrangea paniculata can be pruned in early spring if you want to admire its powerful inflorescences in winter).

After pruning, the plant will not appear to have grown significantly compared to last year. But it will become more compact, and flowering next year will be more abundant.

Using technique 4, the following are pruned: hawthorns, paniculata hydrangea, rugosa rose (if you grow it not for fruits, but for flowering), Erica arborescens. The latter should be cut not by a third, but by two thirds of the shoot.

TECHNIQUE 5. REMOVING ONE STEM OUT OF THREE.

A large number of shrubs that produce many new shoots each year will look healthy and beautiful if you cut back one shoot out of three each year. This very common technique allows the bushes to avoid excessive thickening and also stimulates flowering on strong shoots.

The technique is applied to three groups of bushes:

1. Those that bloom early on the shoots of the previous year (forsythia, Spira vanguta, ornamental currants)
2. Those that bloom profusely throughout almost the entire summer (shrub cinquefoil).
3. To some shrubs that are grown for their beautiful foliage (white turf "Elegantissimo").

This type of pruning should begin when the bush reaches three years of age. And if every year after that you cut out one branch out of three, the bush will look strong and compact at the same time.

Remove one stem out of three, cutting it as close to the ground as possible. Select the weakest and oldest branches first.

After all old and weakened branches have been removed, remove those that extend far from the center of the bush and disrupt the shape of the plant. If you don't see a bud near the ground from which a new shoot can emerge, leave a short stem with a bud. You can later delete this branch as well when there is enough new growth to replace it.

After pruning, the bush may look somewhat sparse. But soon new shoots will appear to fill the space.

Using technique 5, a significant part of the bushes are pruned, if they need to be formed as tapeworms, and not for hedges. Among them are barberries, cotoneasters, hazel, deutzia, white derain "Elegantissima", colkvitia, honeysuckle, sea buckthorn, mahonia, weigela, snowberry, stephanandra tanaki, mock orange, oleaster, ornamental currants, forsythia, cinquefoil, lilac (with a small caveat: remove you need not one of three, but one of four shoots), elderberry (if you need to stimulate not foliage growth, but flowering and fruiting); spirea - arguta, vanguta, thunberga, nipponica, Japanese - "Bumalda" and "Shirobana", viburnum (if you want to keep the bush more compact).

Please note: shrubs that bloom in early spring should be cut only after they have finished flowering. Summer-flowering shrubs can be pruned in early spring.

TECHNIQUE 6. Pruning to the ground

Use this technique to cultivate and improve the development of plants that throw up a large number of vigorously growing rods (such as sweet raspberries).

Some shrubs, such as ornamental raspberries, send out many new shoots every year. Old branches are best pruned to ground level in early spring.

This pruning is also used in cases where young shoots of plants growing like raspberries have a decorative color. Let's say Rubus cockburnianus has white young shoots. With age, their color changes and becomes less interesting. It is advisable to prune such a plant annually to ground level.

When pruning such plants, you do not need to worry about cutting to the bud that is visible to you. Young shoots will come directly from underground.

Using technique 6, the following are pruned: decorative raspberries, stephanandra inquisa, bicolor lespedeza.

TECHNIQUE 7. Pruning to the base of the bush (A)

Plants that are grown for their beautifully colored shoots, such as white dogwood, will look more attractive if they are regularly trimmed back to 5cm from the base of the bush to encourage the growth of new shoots.

The same technique is necessary to stimulate the growth of large decorative leaves, such as elderberries with yellow leaves.

Allow the plant to grow for a season after planting and then prune it back to 5-7cm above the ground the following spring.

We do not recommend cutting plants in this way every year: if the bush is not well fed or poorly mulched, it will be able to throw out only weakened thin stems. But pruning to the base every second year is just what is needed. It will promote the growth of strong, thick stems, and the plant will not need intensive feeding.

Using technique 7, the following are pruned: tree trees with decorative bark and decorative leaves, willows with decorative bark, elderberry - if it is grown for its beautiful leaves.

TECHNIQUE 8. Pruning to the base of the bush (B)

The technique is exactly the same as the previous one. But pruning should be done in the first spring after planting and is required every year without fail. Buddleia and other shrubs that bloom on the current season's growth (such as tree hydrangea) will produce larger flowers on more compact plants if you prune the plant back to 5 to 7 cm from the base of the bush each spring. If this is not done, the plants will produce smaller flowers on spindly, elongated branches.

Trim off all last year's growth, leaving 2 buds at the base. This is usually 5-7 cm on last year's shoots.

If the bush has grown to a very large size and is overcrowded with shoots, cut one or two old stems to ground level. This will allow the plant to conserve energy for better flowering and get rid of poorly placed branches.

After pruning, many bushes can throw out shoots up to one and a half meters or more per season.

The same technique applies to dwarf Japanese spireas. By cutting them to the base of the bush, you kill several birds with one stone: you create growing conditions for new strong stems, form a compact, beautiful shape shrub, and in the case of yellow-leaved spirea, promote the growth of brighter and more expressive foliage.

Using technique 8, the following are pruned: buddleia, tree hydrangea, spirea “Little Princess”, “Golden Princess”, “Gold Mound”, “Nana” and similar ones.

TECHNIQUE 9. Pruning PLANTS WITH GRAY LEAVES

Regular pruning of plants such as lavender helps to create the correct compact shape. Start cutting the plant while it is young. If you resort to severe pruning of an adult plant for the first time and cut into old wood, the bush can become very weak and even die. Prune regularly every spring.

If the current year's growth comes directly from the base of the bush, cut the plant 5-10 cm from the ground.

Be careful with a mature plant with a woody base that does not have young shoots coming from the ground. Do not cut into old dark wood. Make do with trimming the soft shoots of the previous year 5-10 cm from the old dark wood.

Using technique 9, the following are pruned: lavender, perovski.

That, in fact, is all the wisdom.

Of course, this scheme needs to be approached creatively. If, say, a shrub, which is usually pruned using technique 5 (one shoot out of three is removed), has grown greatly, lost its attractive shape and begins to bloom worse, it can be radically planted on a stump using technique 8 and thereby be rejuvenated. If the tips of a bush that is pruned using the same technique 5 are frozen, you will still have to not only remove one shoot out of three, but also run pruning shears along the tips of the frozen branches. For example, I don’t really like it when my cinquefoils “Goldfinger” and “Tangerine” fall apart in somewhat shapeless bushes, and therefore every spring I cut them like gorse - by half of last year’s growth. In exactly the same way and for the same purposes, I cut the summer-blooming spirea “Bumlda” and “Shirobana”. Or, for example, paniculata hydrangea. Sometimes you cut it not into a third of the shoot, but much more, in search of a good pair of buds and a beautiful shrub habit as a whole.

In short, it is quite acceptable to deviate from the rules if you know these rules well and have a perfect idea of ​​why you are making this or that movement with the pruning shears.

And finally: any pruning technique must be combined with sanitary pruning - remove all diseased, broken, crooked, weakened branches. But this is already quite simple...

Happy pruning!

Irina SAVVATEEVA, General Director of the Savvateev Nursery