Gardening with Margaret Matthews
The kindest cut
by Margaret Matthews
I am going to make a confession. Despite having gardened for more than 60 years, I still shudder when I feel secateurs bite into a branch or, more understandably, when I hear a chainsaw felling a tree.
Pruning is a necessary part of gardening. It is used to control and shape plants, and to encourage new growth. Badly done, it can take a long time for plants to recover, or can even destroy them. Well done, it is a craft which can even become art when it is used to shape bonsai, the miniature tree-scapes that can take many, many years to reach perfection.
Some plants, such as roses and flowering fruit trees, need pruning each year. As a general rule, always cut to an outward facing bud or node. Remove all weak or dead wood. Open up the centre of the plant if growth is congested. If large limbs have to be removed, or if sap flows after pruning, apply a wound dressing. If it is necessary to prune a very large or neglected plant it may be better to prune it gradually, taking one third of its branches back this year and extending the pruning over three years. If it is a flowering plant, this may allow it to produce some flowers each season.
If citrus plants need pruning, leave them until early September. They rarely need more than a light trim or thinning out.
Rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas require only minimal pruning. They are ‘tidy’ plants and if space is allowed for them to grow to their maximum height and breadth, they rarely need cutting back.
Plants that outgrow their space can rarely be corrected by pruning. If a tree grows taller than planned, cutting its top off (ouch!) is no solution. The shape of the tree is ruined and it will quickly exceed its former height, as if responding to a challenge. So, allow sufficient space for a plant to reach its full potential. It may be possible to transplant a badly located tree or shrub when it is dormant, but this will depend on its size and species. For instance, native plants are, in the main, difficult to transplant. Shallow rooted plants move more readily than those with a deeply entrenched root system, and deciduous plants are easier to move than evergreens.
The time to prune is usually after flowering but not, of course, flowering fruit trees, as this would defeat their purpose. Frost tender plants should be pruned in spring. Prune roses in late July to avoid young shoots being nipped by front. Banksia roses, which flower in September, should not be pruned until after flowering.
I do not have the space here to give detailed instructions on rose pruning, however many nurseries hold demonstrations in winter. The first time you see an expert pruning roses you will probably think, "They will never recover", but be assured, they will! Many gardeners make the mistake of pruning too lightly.
Native plants respond well to careful and regular pruning. They have been criticised because they are sometimes neglected and left to fend for themselves. Many natives flower in winter and should be pruned immediately after this occurs. Follow this rule through the rest of the year and you can’t really go wrong.
Conifers need almost no pruning, but despite their versatility and many forms, a garden relying on conifers alone could be boring. Many deciduous climbers and vines, including most clematis and grapevines, need cutting back hard when they are dormant.
Pruning tools should be kept sharp and clean. If you are purchasing new tools, remember you get what you pay for.
Finally, pruning does not mean slashing! Will I incur the wrath of male readers if I suggest that men are the chief offenders who sometimes ‘take to’ the helpless shrub or tree with little knowledge and too much brute strength inflicting, as Shakespeare said in another context, "the unkindest cut of all".
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