More important pruning tips for the dry climate gardener
This week I'm going to talk about pruning cold sensitive plants. In a recent newsletter, I mentioned the importance of not pruning such plants until the onset of spring. Now that spring has arrived in the northern hemisphere, it's important to be prepared for some pruning right now, and not wait till the summer. Remember though that spring is the worst time to prune naturally deciduous plants, as the cuts will cause the rising sap to "bleed" out of the plant. If you didn't prune when you should have, i.e. when the plant is in winter dormancy, you can do some light pruning in the summer.
Back to the pruning of the less hardy plants. These could be of Mediterranean climate origin, or of sub-tropical and tropical origin. Let's start with shrubs.
If you want the shrubs to be "bushy", that's to say green from the ground–up, and not to develop a tree-like habit, then it's necessary to cut back about a third to a half of the height of the plant. This also ensures that the flowers, if and when they appear, will grow more or less at eye level, and not be "up in the sky". This is particularly relevant to such flowering mainstays as Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Hamelis patens, Cestrum elegans, Alyogyne huegelii, to name but a few.
It should be noted that larger scale landscaping bushes, such as Melaleuca sp., do not take kindly to regular heavy pruning,.although light pinching can be in order. During the growing season shrubs can always be pinched, but beware of over- pruning. Contrary to popular belief, heavy pruning is not good for the long-term health of the plant.
For this reason, tree pruning should be far more be approached with far more care, and with much "respect" for the tree. Never remove too much woody material at one session. More than a third of the total volume of material, is the limit. If necessary, prune a certain amount in one year, and continue the following year.
In next weeks newsletter we'll be continuing the pruning theme, where I'll be talking about herbaceous perennials and sub- shrubs.
Till then enjoy your garden
Jonathan Ya'akobi
Jonathan@dryclimategardening.com
Back to the pruning of the less hardy plants. These could be of Mediterranean climate origin, or of sub-tropical and tropical origin. Let's start with shrubs.
If you want the shrubs to be "bushy", that's to say green from the ground–up, and not to develop a tree-like habit, then it's necessary to cut back about a third to a half of the height of the plant. This also ensures that the flowers, if and when they appear, will grow more or less at eye level, and not be "up in the sky". This is particularly relevant to such flowering mainstays as Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Hamelis patens, Cestrum elegans, Alyogyne huegelii, to name but a few.
It should be noted that larger scale landscaping bushes, such as Melaleuca sp., do not take kindly to regular heavy pruning,.although light pinching can be in order. During the growing season shrubs can always be pinched, but beware of over- pruning. Contrary to popular belief, heavy pruning is not good for the long-term health of the plant.
For this reason, tree pruning should be far more be approached with far more care, and with much "respect" for the tree. Never remove too much woody material at one session. More than a third of the total volume of material, is the limit. If necessary, prune a certain amount in one year, and continue the following year.
In next weeks newsletter we'll be continuing the pruning theme, where I'll be talking about herbaceous perennials and sub- shrubs.
Till then enjoy your garden
Jonathan Ya'akobi
Jonathan@dryclimategardening.com
posted by Jonathan at 10:19 AM
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