Winter: Lopping and Chopping

You cannot have a garden without lopping or chopping something eventually. Trees and shrubs need to be pruned at the correct time for optimum growth. Some shrubs and trees get their flowers on their last years growth, so if you lop off the wrong part, you’ll end up with no flowers. And if you make that cut in the wrong place, the branch could easily develop rot, spoiling the look of the shrub altogether, if not causing it to eventually die.

You could decide not to bother pruning anything, but if you don’t prune you can also spoil a shrub. Too many twigs or branches can prevent the shrub from bearing properly. Twigs that cross over in the centre of a shrub can rub against each other, leaving a scarred spot that is susceptible to disease. They can also impact on the blooms, either by preventing a good view of the bloom or by damaging the delicate petals by rubbing across them.

Left unpruned, shrubs grow leggy instead of bushy, and trees grow too big. Their blooms are well out of view: instead of captivating, their flowers often go unnoticed. This is a shame when you bought the thing for its beautiful flowers.

The problem of when to prune is also made worse because some trees must be pruned in the winter while others should be pruned in the spring or autumn. Still others need to be tip-pruned after flowering and cut back more heavily at another time of the year. Even flowers need to be pruned. Some - such as geraniums - should have the dead flowers cut off to encourage more blooms to form. Others need just the tips pruned off to keep them looking tidy.

So what’s a gardener to do? Enlist the services of one who knows all about pruning - the professional gardener. In his capable hands your trees and bushes will be pruned in a way that accents their growth and blooms correctly. There will be no worries that you’ve done the wrong thing and ruined a favourite shrub for years to come. In fact, your garden will be the envy of your neighbours as the shrubs and trees blooms beautifully without taking over the whole garden.

But don’t leave it until the garden is way out of hand. Major pruning that is done well after the branch has grown to a large one leaves unsightly bumps and lumps on trees that will always be there. Having a professional attend your garden on a regular basis will ensure that trees and shrubs can give their best for many years to come.