Proper pruning is an important gardening practice
BY THERESA FRIDAY Santa Rosa Co. Extension Office

Proper pruning enhances the beauty of almost any landscape tree and shrub, while improper pruning can ruin or greatly reduce its landscape potential. In most cases, it is better not to prune than to do it incorrectly.

Proper pruning is one of the most misunderstood of all gardening practices, yet it is one of the most important management practices in a home landscape when done properly. Pruning is a skill and an art. It is a skill in making cuts that properly callus over to seal off the wound from disease and infection and an art in making the right cuts in the right places to get the plant to take on a more pleasing form.

Before you begin pruning, it's important to have a reason to prune. Justification for pruning includes:

* To remove dead, diseased and other unwanted wood

* To reduce plant size to manageable proportions

* To maintain size and form for planting design specifications

* To rejuvenate old plants

* To produce improved flower quality

One key to successful pruning is proper timing. Flowering shrub pruning depends on the time of the bloom. Prune late winter and spring flowering shrubs after they flower. Examples in this category include azalea, spirea, quince, weigelia, forsythia, camellia, viburnum and deutzia.

Summer flowering shrubs are pruned from mid to late winter, before spring growth. Some plants in this group are crape myrtle, oleander, vitex and althea.

Most evergreens should be pruned in the dormant (winter) season, but some pruning may be done throughout the year.

It was once believed that pruning cuts, especially large ones, needed to be painted with special pruning compounds to prevent the entry of insects and diseases. It is now known that these compounds can cause the plant more harm than good.

No rules cover all pruning. The important consideration should be preserving the natural form of a particular species. The extent of annual pruning will depend on the plant. Some shrubs may require the removal of a considerable amount of wood each year, while others require little pruning. It is much better to prune lightly each year rather than severely butcher a plant after several years of growth.

One rule for cane-type plants like nandina and mahonia is to remove one-third of the oldest and tallest canes near the ground each year. This will keep the height of the plant at a reasonable level.

Pruning of ornamental grasses should be done in late winter or early spring, just prior to new shoot growth. For deciduous grasses, such as Miscanthus, the old foliage may be completely removed within inches of the soil. For evergreen grasses, such as muhly grass, the ragged, dead tips of leaves can be removed to neaten the appearance of the plant. Many evergreen grasses recover quickly from a heavier pruning.

Pruning of banana trees can also be done in early spring. First, determine how much cold damage occurred. Those plants that are all dead will have become soft and mushy because of decay and will not stand up when given a moderately strong push. Any dead plants should be cut at ground level.

On the other hand, any plant whose pseudostems (trunks) are still alive will be strong and will resist being pushed over. Though the outermost layer of tissue may have turned brown and be dead, a small cut will reveal living tissue deeper in.

Bananas in this category should simply be groomed by removing the dead leaf blades. They should not be cut down because new leaves and flower stalks will emerge from the top of the trunk.