Month By Month Pruning Guide

Pruning is done for neatness and form, to curb natural damage and pest infestation, to tame, to allow in more light and for aesthetic reasons. But mostly, pruning encourages dense growth and a better harvest of leaves, flowers and fruit.

The action of pruning means manually taking away parts of a plant at a certain time of the year in order to force it to react in a positive manner in the months or seasons ahead.

If you are perhaps a month or two too late to prune there’s no major harm done either, providing you keep the plant’s biological clock in mind. You don’t want to prune a plant drastically before it is getting ready to flower – ask anybody who has chopped a Cape may (Spiraea) in winter!

Pruning includes deadheading, pinching, shaving or shearing, cutting back, or the removal of stems or branches. This year pruning guide will remind you what to prune and when to do it.

January

Remove low branches from trees casting too much shade over lawns and flower borders.
Summer prune roses lightly to encourage an autumn flush.
Deadhead spent hydrangea flowers and stems to the pair of healthiest buds you can see lower down.
Tame overgrown creepers like ornamental vines, wisterias and Boston ivy, and retie to their stakes.
Chop vygies back to base for cuttings.
Cut back shasta daisies, gauras, salvias and overgrown petunias to re-flush in autumn.

February

Cut back spent lilium flowers but leave most of the stems to feed the bulbs for a following season.
Prune evergreen hedges like viburnums, photinias, buxus and syzigiums.
Shave topiaries into shape.
Cut fuchsias back for denser growth and cutting material.

March

Prune lanky pelargoniums to renew, and for cuttings.
Cut back cannas and heliconias.
Remove green growth sprouting from variegated plants like coprosma hybrids.
Start cutting back overgrown summer herbs to process them for winter use.

April

Cut back spent perennials like salvias, euphorbias, coneflowers, perennial phloxes, lavenders and gauras, which are done with their autumn flush.
Prune tibouchinas lightly, removing old wood to keep them in check in subtropical climates.
Prune bougainvilleas and bougainvillea hedges in temperate climates.

May

Prune plectranthus species and varieties as soon as they have stopped their autumn flowering.
Cut dahlias back to ground level and dig up the rhizomes to store them.
Chop chrysanthemums down to encourage bushy growth.
Cut back Japanese anemones, Michaelmas daisies and daisy bushes.

June

You can start pruning deciduous shrubs and trees for neatness and shape at the end of the month.
Do not prune those that will flower in spring such as Cape mays (Spiraea), mock oranges, prunus and wild pears (Dombeya rotundifolia).
Regularly pinch back winter annuals like pansies, violas and snapdragons to promote bushy growth and more flowers.
Clean up old leaves of overgrown flaxes, cordylines and palm trees.
Conifers grow actively in winter and can be lightly sheared to encourage denser foliage.
Cut back ornamental veld grasses such as Pennisetum hybrids, muhly grasses, Aristida juncea and zebra grasses.

July

Start rose pruning towards the end of the month, and finish in August.
Others to prune now are Chinese lanterns, hibiscuses, plumbagos, flowering pomegranates, santolinas, solanums, Cape honeysuckles, bush violets, barberries, durantas, ribbon bushes and canary creepers.
Start pruning vines and deciduous fruit trees such as prunes, apricots, pears and apples at the end of June – peach trees are thinned out later and when in blossom.
Prune raspberry canes that have borne fruit down to ground level.
Prune gooseberries by simply cutting everything in half or even lower down.
Tame granadillas close to ground level.

August

Prune shrubs like poinsettias, buddlejas, heliotropes, golden showers, wild daggas and hydrangeas.
Prune and shape camellias only when they have stopped flowering.

September

Prune frost-damaged plants, only when all danger of late frost has passed.
Shape flowering peaches, plums, magnolias, and crab apples after blooming, if necessary.
Prune wisterias as soon as they have stopped flowering.
Neaten acalyphas and crotons.
Start shaving the new growth of topiaries.

October

Remove spent flowers and dead flower stems of aloes.
Prune flowering trees and shrubs like ornamental peaches, almonds, ornamental quinces, and Cape mays.
Prune evergreen hedges.

November

Neaten spring-flowering plants like jasmines, ostespermums, geraniums and daisy bushes.
Prune fynbos like buchus, leucospermums, ericas, proteas and confetti bushes.
Prune lavenders, tea bushes and escallonias.
Remove spent central spikes of delphiniums and foxgloves to just below the last flowers on the stem. New shorter spikes will be produced.
Prune yesterday, today and tomorrows, and petreas lightly.

December

Prune overgrown hedges.
Keep shaping topiaries.
Prune banksia roses.

Cut Your Lawn, Shrubs and Hedges With Ease

The Einhell GE-CG 18/100 Li-Solo cordless grass and shrub shears is a high-performance member of the clever Power X-Change family. The grass cutting blade is perfectly designed for cutting lawn edges (100 mm). The laser-cut and diamond-ground shrub shears blades are ideally suited for trimming hedges and bushes. The tools are easy to change over without the need for any other tools. The soft grip provides a perfect grip and ergonomics during use. The covered gearing housing provides protection during use and when cleaning against contact with parts which are lubricated with gear oil. One 18 V PXC battery is needed for operation. The battery and charger are not included in the scope of this delivery – they are available separately.

The Einhell Range is now available at your nearest power tool outlets.