5 ideas for pruning and caring for shrubs

Most shrubs require little pruning in the first few years. With these five guiding ideas, you can give your shrubs the shape you desire, while keeping them trim and healthy.

At first, confine pruning to removing crossing branches that spoil the plant's shape, along with damaged or unhealthy branches.

A natural hedge comprised of several different shrubs is not pruned like a neatly clipped one, yet it can provide privacy as well as food and habitat for wildlife.

• Viburnums and other shrubs that produce flowers and berries make great additions to a natural hedge.

Pruning methods vary from shrub to shrub, depending in part on their flowering habits.

• A basic rule of thumb is always to follow the natural shape of the plant; don't just shear away unless you're trimming a hedge or topiary.
• Cut back to an outward-facing bud or remove the whole stem at the base.

Time the pruning of your flowering shrubs to enhance the quality of their blooms.

• Prune forsythias, rhododendrons, and other early bloomers immediately after they flower.
• Late bloomers, such as hybrid tea roses, which flower on new growth, are best pruned in early spring to encourage more new growth.

• Leave a hedge full to the very bottom by pruning at a slight angle, with the base wider than the top.

This will let sunlight penetrate to the lower branches and prevent dieback.

Is a variegated shrub growing a branch with all green leaves?

• Prune it out as soon as you spot it. Left unattended, the shrub may revert to solid green.

Is the shrub experiencing overall decline, or not bearing blooms or fruit? The following factors may be to blame.

• The site doesn't suit the shrub's needs for light, water, soil type or pH.
• The site doesn't suit the shrub's tolerance of temperature extremes, wind or pollution.
• The planting depth is improper.
• The roots have been burned by herbicide, fertilizer or road salt.
• Pests or diseases have attacked leaves or roots.

• The shrub is still too young to bloom.
• Pruning was done at the wrong time.
• Excessive high-nitrogen fertilizer was used.
• Frost nipped the shrub at bud formation.
• The buds or flowers were eaten by birds, animals or insects, or affected by disease.