Pruning Tips for March and April

Chop, chop, chop – It is time to start pruning those spring-blooming shrubs that now hold drooping, brown flowers.  Spireas, azaleas and other early spring bloomers will be stetting next year’s  flowers soon.  Once this year’s flowers are spent, it is pruning time.  Wait too long and those pruners will be sending young flower buds to the compost heap.  July 4 is the cut-off for cutting back.

Do you know when to prune blooming shrubs?  Follow the May rule.  If a plant blooms before May 1, prune it soon after it flowers.  If a plant blooms after May 1, prune it before it flowers. 

Early spring flowers, before May 1 are produced on last year’s woody growth, and pruning in spring removes the current bloom buds.  For the opposite group, summer flowers produced after May are on new woody growth.  Pruning stimulates new growth and greater flower production.

Following are bloom time lists of common shrubs and trees in Alabama landscapes.

Winter and Spring Blooms

Witchhazel                                Mountain Laurel

Magnolia Hybrids                        Forsythia

Dogwood                                   Azaleas and Rhododendrons

Fruit Trees                                 Blueberry

Holly                                         Spirea

Bush Honeysuckle                     Kerria

Winter Jasmine                          Nandina

Quince                                      Viburnums

Summer and Fall Blooms

Southern Magnolia                     Hibiscus

Crape Myrtle                              Buddleia

Sourwood                                  Clethra

Sweetbay Magnolia                    Hydrangeas *(exception)

Smoke Tree                               Gardenia

Chaste Tree                               Tea Olive

Abelia

• Exception:  Different hydrangeas have different pruning requirements. French and oakleaf hydrangeas bloom on old wood.  Prune soon after they bloom.  Peegee and smooth hydrangeas bloom on new wood.  Prune before new growth or as it begins to stimulate more flowers.

Source:  Kerry Smith, Extension horticulture associate, Alabama Cooperative Extension System.