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Pruning Broadleaf
and Coniferous Evergreens
Shape conifers to enhance their natural look and prune them lightly to direct their growth or correct bare spots and forked tops.
Limited Pruning for Evergreens
Evergreen trees typically require little pruning. Broadleaf evergreens and conifers, including deciduous conifers, benefit from shaping. Light pruning also promote growth of more foliage and dense structure.
For pruning purposes, conifers can be divided into three groups—pines, conifers such as spruce and fir whose branches whorl off a main trunk like spokes from an axis, and those such as arborvitae and junipers that have soft growth and random, unwhorled branches.
Encourage dense foliage on trees such as pine by pruning back the growth tips before the needles unfold.
It’s best to do this during spring or early summer when the immature needles are packed around the stem and resemble candles. Wait until the developing candles are full length, the needles are still soft. Then cut the candles back to one-half of their length.
Firs, spruces, and related evergreens have a naturally symmetrical growth habit that is very attractive, requiring little pruning. They may sometimes, however, benefit from shaping.
Lightly prune them in winter and use their branches for your holiday decorations.
Whenever you prune evergreens, always make your cuts so that living, green tissue is left to regenerate new growth.
Arborvitae, hemlocks, junipers, yews, and other conifers with a random branching habit allow heavier pruning than other conifers.
Prune them from early spring through the middle of summer. When pruned in spring, they’ll respond with vigorous growth. Avoid cutting into hardened, old wood. Instead, cut highly flexible new growth, leaving some green foliage.
Other evergreens—especially pines and yew—are sometimes sculpted to create interesting shapes. These are familiar from Asian gardens and bonsai.
Cutting off selected branches reveals the interesting bends and forms of those that remain. Leaving groups of needles isolated at their tips and along their lengths is also popular.
Creating a Topiary
Creating an evergreen topiary expresses your personal style in your landscape—whether it’s formal or fun-loving.
Although many kinds of plants can be used to create topiaries, boxwood, holly, and yew are particularly good choices.
To fashion a topiary from a young plant, construct a wire-cloth frame of the shape you’ll eventual want for your evergreen.
As the plant begins to grow through the frame, trim it back to within 2–3 inches (50–75 mm) of the wire cloth, using it as a guide.
Prune and pinch as necessary from spring through late summer, but avoid pruning during autumn or the winter months. Your evergreen uses this time to store nutrients in its foliage to help it through winter.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Lightly prune and shape young, needle-bearing evergreen trees to restore symmetry and balance due to forking, irregular growth, or wind damage.
Perform such pruning in spring when the tree is actively growing and produces so-called “candles” of new needles.
Gather hand pruners, a pruning saw, and gloves. Follow these simple steps:
How to Shape-Prune Conifers in Spring
If conifers develop a forked top, cut away one of the leading shoots at the junction with hand bypass pruning shears. The remaining leader will divide and fill the top with new branches.
Remove entire branches by making a first cut, upward and halfway into the underside of the branch, 4–6 in. (10–15 cm) from the trunk.
Remove the branch by cutting downward from the top, 1/2 in. (12 mm) out from the first cut. These cuts avoid skinning bark from the tree.
Finally, neaten the cut and prevent disease by cutting off the stub at the shoulder.
Control size and shape conifers—cedar, fir, pine, spruce—by making shaping cuts, 2–4 in. (50–100 mm) long, into the new candles with hand shears. Avoid cuts into old needle areas; such cuts would kill the branch.
For dense, branching conifers—arborvitae, hemlock, redwood, yew—make shaping cuts of any length within the needle area of each branch, using hand shears.