Give your dogwood some bite
If you want your shrubs to shine next winter ... reach for the secateurs now
Irecently paid a visit to Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Hampshire, looking for a fix of winter colour. Among the gems to scratch the itch was a dogwood with shiny orange-red stems that was back-lit by the sun. The shrub was gleaming so brightly that from a distance it looked as if it had been doused in petrol and set on fire.
Yet left to its own devices, this dogwood would fail to light up the garden in such a spectacular fashion. The plant would grow overly tall and its colourful stems would fade and lose their polished finish. In order to truly sparkle, dogwoods need pruning in late winter or early spring to encourage a flush of new, vibrant stems.
Dogwoods (cornus) are not the only winter warmers that require the odd nip and tuck. Multistemmed and pollarded willows, along with ornamental brambles need attention to ensure they stage a good display next winter. Now is also the time to hard-prune trees and shrubs grown for their attractive summer foliage.
Consult any guide to pruning on how to tackle cornus and it will advise chopping all stems back to within a few inches of the ground. This was certainly the method I was taught at horticultural college, where I was among an army of secateur-wielding students tasked with maintaining the campus grounds.
You’ll still stumble across examples in gardens that have been reduced to a bunch of stubby ends, but these days many professional gardeners take a different approach and selectively remove about a third of the older stems. This is because it’s thought by some that hard pruning annually can weaken plants over time.
As a result of being treated in a more measured way, plants will be larger and provide more impact. Alternatively, only cut back hard every other year, reducing shoots to within two buds of the previous year’s growth. If you’re planting dogwoods, let them establish for a few years before their first snip.
Willows that are grown as multi-stemmed shrubs, rather than trees that can grow to 20ft or more, can be treated the same as dogwoods to encourage a flush of zingy new stems for winter interest. Among those most commonly grown in this way are Salix alba var. vitellina ‘Britzensis’, Salix viminalis and Salix daphnoides.
Pollarding is another method used for pruning dogwoods and willows that are raised for their winter stems. Plants are trained to have a short, clear trunk (3ft to 6ft is ideal for most gardens) with a head of branches on top. Prune branches in late winter, cutting just above the previous cuts to leave a club-like structure.
Ornamental brambles (rubus) boast arching stems coated in a chalky white bloom. Sadly, this attractive finish is washed off by winter rain, leaving behind stems that are a murky brown. If ignored, these shoots will extend to lengths of 10ft or so, giving the plant a passing resemblance to a thicket of wild brambles. Keep these plants compact and looking lovely by donning pruning gauntlets and chopping every stem back to just above ground level. Fresh shoots will soon break the surface and grow to about 4ft. Once they drop their leaves in autumn, the bare stems will be revealed in their snowy white brilliance.
Apart from pruning for winter effect, tackle catalpa, cotinus, eucalyptus and other multi-stemmed trees and shrubs that are grown for their showy summer foliage.
Using a technique called stooling, simply pare back stems to within 3in off the ground. As a result, plants will produce leaves that are larger than normal.
To ensure that plants bounce back with a vengeance after pruning, water well and scatter slowrelease fertiliser granules over the surface. Finish with 2in layer of garden compost, leafmould or well-rotted manure. Leave a gap around plants to prevent the material from softening bark.
‘Measured pruning helps give plants more impact’