Flower care

Pruning According to Season of Bloom Trees and shrubs that flower before the end of June should be pruned immediately after flowering. Flower buds develop during the previous season’s growth, thus, the flowers for the current year’s bloom developed last year and overwintered in the bud. If pruned before spring flowering, the flower buds will be removed, thus eliminating flowering. Table 1 shows examples of plants which should be pruned after flowering. Other trees and shrubs, those which flower after the end of June, should be pruned in winter or early spring before new growth starts. These plants develop flower buds during the spring of the flowering season. Examples of plants of this type are shown in Table 2. Certain plants may be lightly pruned both before and after flowering. This often increases flower and fruit production, and several may produce a second bloom during the year. Table 3 shows examples of this plant type. In any of the foregoing cases, the timing of pruning is based on common sense to maximize flowering of a plant which was planted for its flowers. If your pruning is timed such that flowering is sacrificed, it will not be detrimental to the plant’s survival. It will simply mean a loss of one season’s floral display