Every home landscape needs evergreen bushes and trees. These plants provide color to the zone all year-long especially when deciduous plants lose their leaves in the middle of winter, turning everything dull and gloomy. Although evergreens are attractive even without heavy pruning, they need to be trimmed occasionally. To prune without ruining your evergreen’s appearance, you’ll need to know the basic know-how of how to prune them.
Why You Should Prune Your Evergreens
Pruning is necessary for many reasons, which includes controlling the size, directing growth, maintaining plant health, and keeping the evergreen’s shape. Like most plants, it is essential to remove dead, broken or injured branches to prevent disease from spreading or pests invading the shrub or tree. Minimal or special pruning should be done to yield a denser, thicker evergreen, which will look very pleasing to the eye. However, gardeners or landscapers should be careful not to trim too much or prune at the wrong time because this can significantly affect the plant’s appearance.
When Should You Prune Your Evergreens
There are four (4) options for when evergreens can be pruned. They can either be pruned when they’re dormant in early spring, when a major growth period starts, when they’re semi-dormant, or in mid-summer. Among these options, it’s best to prune during early spring because new growth can easily fill in the wood that will be removed.
For dead, broken, or diseased wood, they can be pruned at any time of the year.
Preparing for Pruning
Having the right garden clippers and trimmers in good working condition is a necessary step to take before you start. Since evergreen branches vary in sizes, you can use a garden pruner, tree loppers, hedge shears or a pruning saw.
If you're looking for premium gardening hand tools, our range of Titanium Coated Bypass Pruners and Compound-action Loppers offer razor-sharp blades made with SK-5 high carbon steel and ergonomic handles for comfort, designed for your evergreens, so you can prune just like a pro!
Pruning Depending on Type
Before starting, it is important to identify the type of evergreen you have in your garden. Generally, evergreens are grouped depending on their branches, whether they’re whorled or branched randomly.
Whorl-branched Evergreens – Pines, firs, and spruces grow whorled branches, forming a circular patter around the growing tip.
Pines should be pruned in spring when new growth starts to emerge. Prune by pinching out 1/3 to 1/2 of the candle or the new shoots when it expands in spring. For older pines that are overgrown, use a pair of loppers to remove an entire branch. Pines have sticky sap so we covered our lopper blades with a non-stick coating to prevent sap build up and to channel away other sticky substances.
Spruce trees require minimal pruning because of its ability to form a natural pleasing shape. To achieve a formal shape, spruce trees should be pruned or sheared in late spring. Cutting back to a lateral branch should be done if you wish to reduce the size of a branch.
Prune your firs similar to how you would prune your spruce trees.
Random-branched Evergreens – Evergreens with branches that are non-whorled or grow randomly regrow from old wood. This includes arborvitae, junipers and yews.
Arborvitaes can handle heavy pruning that is best done before new growth begins in early spring. Arborvitaes require precision, so our quality pair of bypass pruners are made to be sharp and designed for everyday light pruning to better maneuver in between branches.
For junipers, use our hand pruners to lightly prune the side branches in early spring, cutting slowly to avoid pruning back to its dead zone in the center.
Yews grow slowly and are long-lived plants that can be pruned in late winter or early spring to maintain its size, followed by pruning again in mid-June.
To prune successfully, remember to identify what species of evergreen you are planning to prune and prepare the right tools. Make sure your pair of pruning shears or loppers are sharp, easy to handle and reliable for handling different species of evergreens.
Here at Haus & Garten, we understand the demand for premium-grade pruning tools that gardeners can use to prune different plants. Whether you're dealing with light or heavy pruning, there is a tool designed to give you the ease, optimal comfort and precision for your pruning tasks. With our range of tools in your garden shed, pruning your evergreens will be so much easier than before!
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