Newly installed plants may initially show a few brown branches due to transplanting and handling. Brown or dead branches should be removed with a hand-pruner.

Annual pruning is key for maintaining the shape and health of your new plantings.

Use the following guide for maintenance pruning:

It is recommended that a professional prune your shrubs or trees annually. This will ensure that the plant is pruned correctly and at the appropriate time year.

Schedule

Flowering plant material should be pruned AFTER flowering— otherwise you will cut off the forthcoming bloom. Pruning flowering shrubs and trees promotes the growth of young, vigorous wood necessary for new buds. Removing spent flowers also promotes additional blooms. Hand pruners are recommended. Power shears should only be used to create a formal hedge.

Certain vigorous plants including Junipers, Yews & Hollies should be pruned as needed during the growing season. Pines and Spruce are surge growers and should be pruned after the buds have elongated.

Perennials and Grasses

Spent flower heads can be ‘dead-headed’ during the growing season. Perennial flowers differ from shrubs in that the plant goes dormant and dies back to the ground in the winter and re-grows from the root clump in the spring. Perennials can be cut back to the ground in Nov/Dec. The plant stems will have died back significantly after the first couple of frosts and should easily break off at the base of the plant. Grasses can be left standing throughout the winter for interest and cut back to about 6” in March/April.

R&S Landscaping offers Specialty Gardening Service in which our Garden Specialists will visit your property regularly to maintain your perennial flowers for optimum health and impact of the plants.