Spring is in full swing; the birds are chirping, the grass is turning green, and the plants are growing! It’s gardening season! This is the perfect time to shape your shrubs so they grow how you want them. This is going to require pruning, trimming, and shaping before their leaves come in. If you want flawless shrubs for the summer, our team here at Five Star Tree Services has come up with some handy tips!
Time Your Prune
Depending on what plant you have will determine when the best time to prune is. Here are some general guidelines:
- Early spring flowering shrubs
-trim when they bloom - Summer flowering plants
-should be trimmed during the end of winter to early spring - Non-flowering plants
-clip them after the new growth has finished growing
Some light clipping throughout the year is good maintenance. When you prune, this directs the growth to where you want it. This also helps light and air reach all branches and helps to alleviate some weight when removing dead, damaged, or diseased branches.
Basic Pruning
To make your life a little easier, before you begin, put a tarp down under the shrub or tree in order to make the cleanup much faster. Start our trimming by removing dead, diseased, or damaged branches. Next, take off any growth you don’t want and make sure to thin out sports where the outer cover is very thick. Doing this lets in light and air to the inner branches. Make sure to clip off limbs just above recent growth to allow them the necessary air and sunlight. It is not advised to use electric trimmers. They only top the shrub, which signals it to produce new growth where it has been cut. You should be cutting farther back on the limb to promote growth there.
Cut off any small branches growing by the base of the trunk; these are called suckers. Also make sure to remove any limbs growing vertically on dominant branches; these are called water sprouts. Each of these suck’s nutrients away from the plant. In order to have proper distribution of sunlight to your whole plant, avoid having a wider top than bottom. You should also only be trimming roughly one-third of the plant every year. Too much pruning can result in shock and death. Any holes you have created this year will fill in with new growth the following year which makes the plant fuller and stronger.
Sharp Shape Pruning
If you want a fancier shaped shrub, boxwoods are perfect for this. Your first step is to still do some basic pruning. If you want straight lines, utilize your house, siding, or other objects close by as a guide. You can also choose to use stakes and string to get a perfectly straight line. Put them along the hedge but make sure they aren’t too deep in the shrub you are cutting. You can even use a level then positioning the string to follow. Take your hedge trimmer and slowly run it along the top of the shrub and down the sides, making the blade work for you. As a reminder, make sure the top is not wider than the base. As you go along, make sure to take a step back and check your handiwork.
Other Tips & Tricks
Tools
To make pruning hard-to-reach areas and tall hedges more manageable, use a hedge trimmer with an elongated reach and a pivoting cutting head. For smaller branches, use hand pruners. These can take on branches up to an inch in diameter. For branches two inches or more, use long handled loppers to give you leverage.
Technique
If you have overgrown or mature shrubs, take off the thickest branches first. Make sure to cut them at the base to promote new growth. When cutting, make sure the branch is deep in the pruner or lopper. You have more leverage and force behind your cut. Aim for a clean cut in order to have quicker healing. In order to reduce snow accumulation during the winter, make your hedge and shrub top rounded.
How Five Star Tree Services Can Help
Each shrub and hedge requires different pruning and different tools in order to maximize new growth. Our team here at Five Star Tree Services can help you keep your yard looking fantastic with our shrub trimming service in Toronto. If you are interested in our amazing services, make sure to give us a call at (416) 990-3355 today!