Use these straightforward tips to trim all your evergreen trees and shrubs.
Evergreens are some of the hardest-workingliving elements in your landscape.
Caring forevergreen treesand shrubs includes occasional pruning to keep them healthy and looking their best.
Credit: Jay Wilde
In some cases, you also might need to tame rapid growth that’s crowding walkways or other plants.
Pruning evergreens is a little different thantrimming other trees and shrubs.
For shrubs, you may need to cut a branch back to ground level.
Credit: Jay Wilde
In many cases, evergreen trees do not produce new growth on old portions of a branch.
For example, new growth on a whitepineforms exclusively at the tips of the branches.
Cutting a branch back by half its length will simply result in a dead branch stub.
This will make it much easier to maintain the shrub’s natural shape.
Maintaining Evergreen Hedges
Yearly pruning is key to maintaining a hedge.
Boxwood, juniper, yew, and holly arecommon evergreen hedge plants.
A sharp pair of shears will do the job, butpowered hedge trimmersmake for faster work.
Stick to only sheering the outermost couple of inches of foliage.
The Best Time to Prune Evergreens
Late winter or early spring is thebest time to prunemost evergreens.
Pruning in spring allows the cuts to heal quickly and new buds to develop.
Flowering evergreens, such asrhododendronsandcamellias, are an exception.
To maximize flower buds for the following year,prune flowering evergreensright after they bloom.
The calendar isn’t a factor when cutting outdead, broken, or diseased evergreen foliage.
Aim to make cuts that leave the plant with the most natural shape possible.
This often means cutting the branch back to the trunk or to ground level for a shrub.
