One of the most important steps to ensuring the longevity and health of your trees and shrubs is regular pruning. Pruning is an essential part of gardening, but like all gardening there is a proper time to do it and a time not to.

Before you beginning pruning you will need the proper tools: lopping shears for stems and branches up to an inch in thickness; hedge shears or an electric trimmer for shaping hedges and perennial evergreens and a pruning saw for larger branches over an inch in thickness.

Evergreens

Cedars and junipers may be lightly pruned in early spring to remove any winter killed tips.

Mid-June is the ideal time to prune cedars and junipers when the need to trim is apparent as the weather produces new growth. Clip them with hedge shears just as you would a hedge.

Upright evergreens should never be allowed to outgrow its place in the garden.

Spreading evergreens can be simultaneously sheared or trimmed by removing individual branches. Make the cut under an overhanging branch and your work will go unseen.

Conifers

Spruces and firs produce buds along the branch. New growth should be removed by half in the third week of June. This provokes dormant buds to break and creates a denser foliage and promotes new buds to grow at the cut.
The leader, or main shoot, of such trees can become too long and should be cut at this time. DO NOT CUT below the lowest buds or the leader will die back.

Pine trees do not have buds along the stem, only on the tips. As these buds get larger in the spring they look like candles. Half the growth should be removed each year before the end of June.

Flowering shrubs and vines

Spring flowering and shrubs such as flowering almond, forsythia, bridal wreath speria, purple-leaf sand cherry and rhododendrun should never be pruned until the first flowers appear.

Summer flowering shrubs should be pruned in early spring before any growth begins to appear, then pruned again to as flowers bloom and become spent. Plants include roses, pink sperias, Pantalla Butterfly Bush, Blue Mist Shrub and certain hydrangea.

Bittersweet Vine, shrubs with attractive berries and some roses offer no best time for pruning. If pruning is required then do so after they flower or make use of the decorative berries indoors by cutting the fruit laden branches.

Most flowering vines such as clematis, honeysuckle, silver-laced vine etc. are extremely vigorous and should be pruned in early spring.

Some varieties of clematis such as Duchess of Edinburgh and Nelly Moser are varieties that flower on old wood, then flower again on new growth.

As the vine becomes overgrown, you may have to prune the excess and forego early blossoms in some years.

Fruit trees

Fruit trees offered for sale at most nurseries maybe three years old or more and the basic shape already begun or established, having been pruned at the nursery. If so, only a minimal amount of pruning is needed to maintain and improve the open centered vase shape of the tree. Fruit trees should always be pruned when the tree is dormant in mid-to late winter.

Summer pruning to remove leafy foliage and expose the ripening fruit to more sun should be done about a month before picking. If you have any questions about pruning your shrubs, hedges or trees, feel free to drop by our nursery and asked for myself or any of our staff. We’d be glad to help.

GARDENING TIP # 1

Winter protection

Question: When should I uncover my plants?

Answer: The best time to remove the thermal blankets is as soon as the snow around your plants has melted.

Leaving your plants covered for too long in the spring can overheat and damage them.

For plants that have been mulched: As the mulch thaws, gradually push it away from the plant until it is completely uncovered.

GARDENING TIP # 2

Applying a combination of dormant oil and lime sulphur to plants is a safe, organic, and effective solution that helps fight overwintering pests and prevent diseases. You can apply the mixture on shrubs, rose bushes, and most trees (except Sugar Maple and Birch).

Dormant oil and lime sulphur can be purchased at Laporte's.

When to apply: Follow these three simple, but important rules for a successful application:

• The temperature must not drop below 0 degrees Celsius the night of the application.
• It must not rain for 24 hours following application.
• It must be applied before buds swell and crack.

Cedar Hedge protection

The cedar mite and cedar scale are two powerful pests that can only be controlled using dormant oil. Because these insects can kill your Cedar Hedge, protection is vital.

Apply the dormant oil sometime between mid-March and mid-April.

You should also follow these two rules:

• The temperature must not drop below 0 degrees Celsius the night of the application.
• It must not rain for 24 hours following application.

Important: The application should consists of dormant oil ONLY. Do not use lime sulphur for Cedar Hedges.

(Estelle Laporte and her husband Jean are the owners of J.A. Laporte Flowers and Nursery on Old Montreal Road. If you would like any more information on these or any other helpful tips please feel free to visit our garden centre on Old Montreal Road just east of Trim Rd.)