Don't Touch Those Yellow or Red Shrubs

           It kills me to have to do this! It just isn’t right I tell ya! Pruning a Pygmy Barberry this time of year. But it had to be done, I had no choice.

            Now is not the time to prune any bush that sports red or yellow leaves. Why? It’s the sun that turns them that color; all the leaves under them are green. Yes, they will gradually turn yellow or red, but it will take a while.

            Shrubs like Barberries, Golden Privets, Goldmound & Lemon Spireas, Cistina Sand Cherry, Java & Wine-n-Roses Weigela, Jap Lacy Leaf Maples and anything else that sports a yellow or red leaf  should be pruned in the late fall when the leaves are ready to fall off, or early spring before they leaf out. If you have to prune them now just take off a little if you can, and leave some of the color that caused you to want to buy the bush in the first place.