A Quick And Easy Guide To Prune A Bush For Winter

Last Updated on January 1, 2021 by woodcutter

Winter season is about to strike. The groundwork of clearing overgrown bushes while having that ambition to prune away them is about to come. But before you barricade into conclusion, pruning isn’t an easy task at all, bearing in mind, a bit of understanding is a daily remedy needed especially knowing the real answer on how to prune a bush for winter.

Have you ever noticed the benefit that arises when pruning time is considered? Most people usually prune before the winter seasons, ensuring healthy, nice-looking, and productive plants. Pruning during winter fall is not the right time due to the harm that may arise to your bush. If you were preparing your pruning shears, you better put them back in your storeroom. In this article, I am going to present to you how, when, and why pruning.

Pruning process

Pruning a bush is something you have to learn even though it’s a bit confusing, set that aside. You are at the right place and the right time. Before we jump into the assumption, you will need equipment or tools such as gardening gloves, protective clothes, hand pruner, loppers, shears, and handsaw. Below are just stages to know how to prune bush for winter.

1. Damaged Bushes

With tools ready by your side, visualize and note if they are any damaged or dead branches. Suppose you see some use, a shear/lopper and gentle prune. If they are harder or dead branches, you can use a handsaw. Damaged or dead branches make the plant vicious.

They even deteriorate or attain diseases. Removing wilted or dried branches also reduce the spread of diseases. Make sure that you leave the area cut sharp. Hand pruners are a great ideal in cutting hard branches up to 2cm thick due to their sharpness and durability.

2. Cutting Bushes

For free air circulation of plants, remove those heavily congested plants or old thick branches. Bushes such as “red wig,” “dogwoods,” and “forsythias” are known as the “cane-type bushes.” They have stems that usually sprout out of the ground; therefore, dealing with these can-type bushes using “renovation pruning type” is needed. You cut all stems down the ground using a pruning saw; the idea of cutting is to acquire new shoots, thereby allowing new good looking bushes in a year or two.

3. Flattop Bushes

This stage is for you to avoid those flattop bushes, although it’s alluring to trim bushes with a hedge shear and sometimes to shape a bush by removing branch tips. Flattop bush cutting may seem OK, but the result will be a bad looking shapeless bush as time goes on. It may grow bigger, and it will be tough to bring it back into good shape.

4. Cutting Bigger and Dense Bushes

Controlling size and shape is a good idea since you would not like to see a bigger and dense bush; therefore, prune entire branches yearly. Cutting them will open the plant to sunlight, encouraging healthy growth from inside it.

5. Evergreens Bushes

They are those Evergreens which usually grow from existing stems. These develop permanent branches which need less pruning. Subsequently, light yearly pruning is needed using bush cutting tools to remove uncontrollable shapeless branches.

6. Trimming Bushes

When trimming bushes, it is for the best to cut collar branches. To do so, make sure to trim a little bit above where the two branches meet. Overgrown bushes should be trimmed off. There is no need to keep a big brush to a smaller landscaped area. You instead trim it off and plant a newer small plant that would fit in that place.

When to Prune a Bush for Winter

• Dormant Plants

Pruning in late winter or in the early spring is a good time for pruning bushes. We know that temperature varies in different regions; usually, it wouldn’t be a good idea to prune in the winter because plants become dormant. As the word sounds, dormant plants simply means the activeness of growth for a plant is at ease.

• Timing

Timing is the key; the growth of the plant can determine pruning bushes. Plant health is essential for plants to grow. Overgrown bushes require consecutive pruning for plants to renew; thus, late winter is the best for restoring bushes’ health in winter.

Why Prune a Bush for winter

Since we now know that late winter is the best for pruning bushes, put it in mind that plants are designed to grow upward. Pruning allows bushes to grow, but it depends on the type of plants.

• Terminal Bud Bushes

They are other bushes that produce flowers such as “butterfly bush” and “miss ruby” these have terminal bud which produces flowers, therefore if they are pruned late winter, they multiply more flowers. Pruning can neaten a plant; thus, plants such as ‘limelight’ are cut in late winter or during spring resulting in new growth, and these flowers appear to be crispy and neat as seasons pass by.

• Space

Another factor, pruning allows control of height and spread of plants. Space is essential like we have said before, you would not want larger plants. They end up unattractive and take space, thus wise to prune to avoid them. They are plants like “Black Lace” these grow too large to the extent that they require pruning to keep the compact, especially in a small scale landscape.

• Overgrown Bushes

Another factor to note is those overgrown bushes. Why waiting to cut them? Give your property a breathing space and new plant other bushes.

• Damages and Diseases

Bushes can be affected by diseases, and others can be damaged; therefore, late winter pruning to extract them is a remedy for every solution.

Final Verdict

Now your question of how to prune a bush for winter has been answered. Take those pruning tools, cut, and trim on bushes. Prepare for winter since the season is about to begin. It’s time to meet your family, friends, and loved ones; none of them want to see a devastating shapeless bush in your yard. You can buy pruning tools or hire the experts to do the task.