One task that home gardeners can spend a lot of time on is pruning their shrubs. There are four reasons that you might engage in this task: to affect flower or fruit production; to direct the growth ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Jacky Hobbs/Future Pruning shrubs and perennials in May can reward you with neater plants ...

Discover our selection of plants to never prune in December, including spring-flowering shrubs that won't bloom and trees ...

These shrubs flower in the spring on buds that formed the previous year. Prune them in the winter, and you'll be removing those buds, and hence future flowers.

If I gathered up all the billions of garden questions people have asked me over the years, via email, at the annual neighborhood barbeque, or even as I’m lying on the operating room table waiting for ...

Midwinter is an excellent time to get outdoors and prune shrubs. “You can prune shrubs any time, but it’s often easier when they are leafless and dormant,” said Julie Janoski, Plant Clinic manager at ...

As we enter autumn, the transition from summer to winter, gardeners should plan on cutting back their spent perennials. This column focuses on seasonal pruning of herbaceous shrubs, with a review of ...

There’s an old saying in pruning: “Prune until it hurts, and then prune some more.” The advice helps overcome our fear of cutting away too many branches. Other pruning adages are less useful. “When in ...

End of winter is the best time of year to prune shrubs that flower later in the growing season, i.e. from mid-June and after. The reason is that later-flowering shrubs bloom on “new wood.” This means ...

January is a highly beneficial time to prune trees and shrubs because this is the dormant period for many plants in coastal California. This column provides specific recommendations for the Monterey ...

The best color is on new growth — branches that are just a year or two old. Older branches will turn grayish or brown. “To ...