Get Xmas chopping
Mid-winter is prime time to cut deciduous trees, shrubs and climbers into shape before they burst back into life when spring arrives
LOW temperatures and frosty weather may mean a brief break from some gardening jobs but pruning isn’t one of them. Plants and trees that lose their leaves are dormant in winter, making it the ideal time for a trim that will help them bounce back with plumes of growth come spring.
This is because plant resources are focused in the roots, making damage from pruning less likely.
The lack of leaves also makes it easier to judge the plant’s shape and condition, meaning you’re likely to do a better job.
Plants that benefit from winter pruning include vigorous climbers that flower on the current year’s growth, newly planted deciduous hedges, and deciduous trees.
Leave plants that bloom on last season’s growth, such as Forsythia and Philadelphus (mock orange), otherwise you’ll be cutting off the wood that would’ve produced flowers.
Most evergreens are also best left as pruning now can encourage new growth which could be killed off by frost. Use the RHS plant finder to determine which category your plants fall into before you start clipping. There is one exception to these rules, which is that all plants benefit from having the three Ds – Dead, Damaged and Diseased branches – removed as soon as you spot them. So, chop chop!
Pruning away this material prevents disease spreading and creates space for healthy new growth to come through.
It is particularly important to remove dead or weakened branches on trees at this time of year – otherwise they could be brought down by storms and cause damage or injury.
When pruning you can cut away part of a branch or stem – known as heading back – or remove it altogether, which is called thinning.
The tactic of heading back is used to remove damaged ends or to encourage your plant to bush out lower down the stem.
Thinning, on the other hand, is employed to rejuvenate plants that are overcrowded with branches, allowing light and air through to promote healthy growth and increase resistance to disease.
Whichever method you apply, it’s important always to cut at a jaunty 45 degree angle which slopes away from any buds present on the stem and to leave a short stub in place.
Prune to roughly a quarter of an inch above a healthy node (the swelling on the branch or stem on which buds form) at your stub’s highest point.
The angle of your cut enables water to drain away, preventing healthy growth from rotting, while ensuring a small stub avoids leaving enough material on the plant to cause
The lack of leaves makes it easier to judge a plant’s shape
infection. For overgrown, established climbers employ the thinning tactic to remove entire branches that grow in the wrong direction or above the natural canopy.
If there are branches that rub against one another, either remove both or try to identify which of the two can be lost without compromising the plant’s overall structure and then thin out.
Your aim is to increase air flow and light penetration into the centre of the plant to keep it healthy.
Use heading back to keep enthusiastic climbers, such as Lonicera (honeysuckle) and Trachelospermum (star jasmine), from becoming leggy and outgrowing their bounds. If your climber has only a few leggy stems, heading back to just a couple of nodes on each stem will encourage lots of sideways growth that will make the plant more attractive and wellrounded next season.
You can also use this method to reinvigorate an established climber that has become a tangled mess that makes selective pruning impossible.
Deciduous ornamental trees can be pruned for shape during winter, and fruit trees, like apples and cherries, will produce larger, juicier fruits next year if they are well pruned during the cold season. This is because selective pruning allows them to focus their fruit-production efforts on fewer, quality fruits rather than spreading their harvest too thinly.
Trees are best pruned with selective thinning. You’re looking to create a wine glass shape for the tree, with an open centre of branches that are not touching one another.
This allows light and air through to the centre of the tree, promoting and preserving overall health.
If your tree is very overgrown, badly damaged, or you’re not confident
working at height, enlisting the help of a qualified tree surgeon may be best as it can be difficult to correct problems with trees if you’re a beginner.
Newly-planted deciduous hedges, such as Carpinus betulus (hornbeam), Crataegus monogyna (hawthorn) and Fagus sylvatica (beech), need to be pruned in their first two winters to establish their shape.
This is a very simple process – simply give the hedge a short back and sides but leave the top alone. This encourages plants to grow upwards rather than sideways until the desired height of the hedge is reached.