Pruning Flowering Shrubs

            About this time of year the hedge clippers go a little nuts out there. Spring maintenance ramps up with cleaning out the beds, putting down new mulch, and pruning up the shrubbery. It’s this “pruning up the shrubbery” that things can get out of control.

            What you need to remember is that bushes just don’t produce flowers at will; they need time to prepare, and typically this takes three months.

            What you can prune now is anything in your yard that has flowered already this spring; you can go over my previous Blogs to find out what is on that list.

            Many times I have commented to people about a particular bush they have and how pretty it flowers; only to have them look at me puzzled and say “It flowers?” Seems sometimes Handsome Harry her handy husband/homeowner, hacked it up with all the rest every year. The real culprits though are the condo lawn care guys; they fly in with gas powered pruners ready to cut down everything in their path. These poor dues paying folks rarely see what the landscape is capable of.

            Three months after the flowers have dropped off, the flower bud sequence sets up for next year’s flowers, and is particularly the strongest as you get near the ends of these branches. If you prune these off after this ‘bud set” is finished you remove all the flower bearing wood, and that means no flowers.

            So the best time to prune anything is right after it has finished flowering. Who knows you may have some shrubs in your landscaping that have never truly shown you their true reason for being there.

           For a more in depth look into this topic go to my web site at www.NiemeyerLandscaping.com and

If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at NiemeyerLandscaping@Gmail.com or post a comment on this Blog. And like us on Facebook at Niemeyer Landscaping. For more Landscape and garden info and pictures on the subject check us out at www.NiemeyerLandscaping.com