Get the best results by heavily pruning your shrubs in winter
Fans angry over the new ‘flipping’ rule that ends rallies mid-inning during spring training
Q: I just purchased a home with a neglected garden and have several large, overgrown shrubs that I would like to reduce in size instead of replacing. Can this be done successfully and, if so, what is the best approach?
— Bernice Jones, Evanston
A: I have had good luck aggressively pruning many kinds of overgrown shrubs dramatically back. The overgrown shrubs are a liability in the landscape, so there’s no real loss in the few cases in which you get poor results and need to replace them.
The current winter dormant season is the best time of year to do this work, as the plants have a lot of stored energy in the roots to push up new growth in spring. Your deciduous shrubs should respond well, providing they are in good health.
The first step is to try to remove all the large stems, especially if they have formed mature bark, at ground level. A small folding hand saw will work well and help prevent damage to any adjacent young stems that you want to save.
It is best to saw at ground level to avoid leaving stubs. The remaining young stems may need to be cut back in height.
It is difficult to give exact height recommendations, as different shrubs will call for different treatments. It is likely you will end up cutting the remaining young stems back to a height of 2 to 3 feet.
You want to stimulate strong growth from the base of the plant, so err on the side of cutting the shrubs back lower than you think they should be. If
you do not cut them back hard enough, the shrub’s response may be spindly growth at the ends of the stems and not much growth from the lower portion or base of the plant.
This type of pruning is severe and leaves your plants looking bad, so if aesthetics are a concern, wait until late winter before pruning to minimize the time before they start to grow back.
If your shrubs do not have young stems coming from the base of the plant, then you need to cut back the old thick stems to about 2 feet or just above the point where there is a young stem. There have been very few gardens in which I was not able to get good results from this pruning approach.
Since the goal is to remove most of the old stems, you will need to prune back these thick remaining stems to new canes that develop lower on the stems over the next couple of years. Cut back any young stems that remain.
Early spring-flowering shrubs such as viburnums, lilacs and forsythia formed their flower buds last summer, so aggressive pruning on these shrubs during winter will remove branches with flower buds, resulting in no flowers this year. They will flower
again in 2022, providing that they are not cut back again late this summer, fall or next winter. It is OK to nip back any stems that grow out of proportion to the rest of the stems in spring.
Generally, evergreen shrubs do not respond well to this hard pruning. Yews, though, can be cut back hard with decent results in many situations, but you will need to be patient for two to three years as they fill back in. Deciduous shrubs grow back much quicker. I have had poor results in aggressively cutting back old panicletype hydrangeas with thick stems.
Monitor these shrubs in spring, and cut out any dead portions of stems — it is likely that you will have some follow-up pruning to do. Cut back any new growth that is shooting above the other stems to encourage the shrub to develop a denser habit. It may also be beneficial to fertilize your shrubs in spring and provide extra water during dry spells in the growing season.
Fans entering the gates at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz., on Tuesday were greeted with a sign informing them the game between the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers would be only six innings.
But most of the crowd was unaware of the new spring training rule that gives managers the option to stop an inning if a pitcher has thrown 20 pitches and move on to the next half-inning.
It happened five times during the Sox-Rangers game — and the booing from the crowd became incrementally louder on each occasion.
“Totally aggravating,” said Paul Meincke, a former reporter at ABC-7. “This is not Little League. There is no slaughter rule. Jose Abreu is up with the bases loaded and they just stop the game? Nobody knew what was going on. Everybody seated many seats apart looked at each other like, ‘What is this?’
“By the second or third time we figured it out, and eventually they made an announcement.”
MLB instituted the new rule because COVID-19 protocols resulted in fewer pitchers in camp. Managers have the option of ending an inning no matter how many outs there are or if there are men on base, and they can then re-insert the pitcher the next inning with a fresh pitch count.
Sox manager Tony La Russa said before Tuesday’s game it was a “wise” decision by MLB, but afterward he said his team would stop “flipping innings” for the remainder of the Cactus League.
“There’s all kinds of professional reasons why it makes sense,” La Russa said. “But fans are paying to come (to) games. I know they were disappointed — they voiced it several times. So from the White Sox side, we’re going to do everything we can to avoid doing it.
“And the way you do it, we’re going to try get enough protection in an inning where we can maybe bring somebody, maybe from the minicamp, so we can finish the inning (with a reliever) and the other team can score as much as they can. It’s purely the correct thing to do for fans.”
Cubs manager David Ross hadn’t heard La Russa’s comments as of Wednesday morning, but he understands why fans would be unhappy with rolling over innings.
Ross thought Kansas City Royals manager Mike Matheny might do it during Tuesday’s game when left-hander Daniel Lynch labored in the fourth inning and eventually was replaced with two outs after facing six hitters and allowing three runs. Ross mentioned talking with Kris Bryant in the dugout about roll-over innings, discussing whether the offense should be awarded a run when that happens.
“That’s kind of the ace in the hole if something really gets out of hand,” Ross said. “But at the end of the day, these are exhibition games. I understand fans’ perspective of wanting to win and cheer for their group for sure, but also we’re trying to keep everybody healthy for the stuff that counts, which is the season.”
Players’ health is paramount for Ross. He hates that some fans are upset that the on-field product is not living up to what they expect. Even so, Ross has the big picture in mind.
“To give the fans the best product we possibly can, we need to protect guys on the front end after only playing 60 games last year and having limited innings,” Ross said.
“And as much as these guys are unbelievable athletes and really take care of their bodies, the wear and tear is real, and so we’re trying to protect those guys so fans can see a great product throughout the summer and not have a guy from Double A coming up and making his debut because he’s not ready with his stuff yet.”