How to prune shrubs, roses and hedges

Pruning keeps plants healthy, gives them a good shape and helps them flower. It seems hard, but most of it comes down to three things: the right tool, the right moment and the right cut.

Choose the right tool

• The Hoogmaat bypass pruning shears for living branches up to 2 centimeters thick: roses, shrubs and young fruit trees.
• The Hoogmaat bypass loppers for branches up to 4 centimeters, and for branches you can’t reach with short shears.
• The Hoogmaat hand hedge shears for trimming a hedge.
• The hand saw 50 cm for anything thicker.

Bypass tools cut like scissors. The cut is clean, and the plant heals quickly. A crushed cut heals slowly and lets disease in.

Choose the right moment

• Shrubs that flower in spring, like forsythia: prune right after flowering.
• Shrubs that flower in summer, like most roses: prune in early spring, around March.
• Hedges: trim in late spring and again in late summer. Check for nesting birds first, and wait if you find one.
• Fruit trees: prune in winter, when they have no leaves.

Make the right cut

Cut just above a bud or a side branch, about half a centimeter above it, at a slight angle. The angle lets rain run off. Choose a bud that faces outward, so the new branch grows away from the center of the plant. That keeps the plant open and airy.

The three Ds

Whatever you prune, start by removing the three Ds: dead, damaged and diseased wood. Cut back to healthy wood. Then remove branches that cross and rub against each other.

Pruning a rose

1. Remove the three Ds.
2. Remove thin, weak stems.
3. Shorten the strong stems to about 30 to 40 centimeters, just above an outward-facing bud.
4. Aim for a shape like an open vase.

Trimming a hedge

Trim the sides first, then the top. Make the hedge slightly narrower at the top than at the bottom. Light then reaches the lower branches, and the hedge stays green all the way down. Use a string between two sticks as a guide for a straight top. Wear the ear defenders if you use a power trimmer, and the safety glasses always.

After pruning

Put soft prunings in the compost bin. Clean your tools, dry them, and add a drop of oil to the blades and hinges. Sap that dries on a blade makes it sticky and blunt.

Wear garden gloves or leather work gloves for roses and thorny shrubs.