Winter Pruning in Your Garden

Winter pruning in your garden has tips for you covering

what trees and shrubs to prune,
and just as importantly, what trees and shrubs not to prune
plus what gardening tools you need,
and a basic ‘how to’ pruning guide

General Tips for Winter Pruning in Your Garden

The critical questions before you start on the pruning are : –

Why?
When?
How?

Regarding trees, larger shrubs and hedges you also need to ask yourself and check if you’re not sure: –

Is there a Tree Preservation Order?
Do I live in a Conservation Area or National Park?
Is a tree surgeon needed ?

And finally: –

Does the tree, shrub or hedge bear edible fruit?
Is it a wildlife habitat?
Is a formal or informal look required? (generally more relevant for hedges).

It is also inadvisable to prune

when there is a heavy frost,
or late in the day when a frost is forecast.

This is because the pruning cut is an open wound and the frost may damage the tree or shrub until it has healed over.

Pruning Tools

Be sure to use the appropriate tools for the job
Ensure the blades are sharp and the tools are in good repair – to lessen the chance of accidents and to make pruning easier

NB It is generally advisable to have someone else around when you’re working at height off a ladder or scaffold, and also when using power tools.
For care of hand tools and power tools, see blog links below

Hand tools

Bypass secateurs – (scissor shaped) for cutting living stems and branches
Anvil secateurs for dead wood, or where a slight crushing of the stem is less important
Loppers – basically secateurs with a longer handle; often have a ratchet motion which gives greater cutting power. They may have elbow length handles or be extendible to reach into lower tree branches.
Pruning saw -has curved handle and or blade which makes reaching into the shrub or tree much easier than with a straight saw.
Pruning knives – as saw but smaller

Power tools

They may be petrol, battery, mains electric and include hedge trimmers, pole pruners and chainsaws. I would strongly recommend not using chainsaws unless you have been trained and are wearing the specialist safety gear.

Winter Pruning in Your Garden – General Techniques and Tips

Start by removing, dead, diseased, damaged and dying stems and branches.
Then those which are rubbing against each other.
cuts should be made at an angle sloping away from a bud where the buds are on alternate sides of the stem
cuts should be horizontal when buds are opposite each other
take care not to cut too close and damage the bud
when pruning a smaller branch back to a larger be careful not to damage the main branch by cutting too closely

If the aim of the pruning is to make space, you should still consider what needs to be done to produce a balanced, attractive tree or shrub.

Ideally not more than 15 – 20% of the top growth should be removed in one go. This figure excludes dead and diseased branches. This is because pruning can put the tree or shrub into shock if a large part of its growth is removed at one time. If a lot needs to be removed then follow a restorative pruning programme over 2 or 3 years.

Winter Pruning in Your Garden – Fruit Trees and Fruit Bushes

In winter: –

prune pip fruits such as apples, but not if they are a trained form such as espalier
do not prune stone fruits, which include cherries, plums and nuts
bush fruits – currants and gooseberries – are winter pruned unless they have been grown as a trained form
cane fruits are often, but not always, pruned in late winter. Summer fruiting raspberries are pruned after fruiting

When pruning fruit trees remember the main aim is to encourage a good crop over the coming years. This requires knowledge of where the fruiting buds form on the branch and how long they take to develop.
Fruit may be carried –

on ‘spurs’ or clusters of short stems along the length of the branch
at the end, or tip, of the branch
or a mixture of the two

The best time to prune most apple, quince and medlar pear trees is during their dormant period; which is roughly November – March.

Which fruit trees not to prune in winter

Stone fruits, which include cherries, plums, peaches and nuts such as almonds should be pruned when they are in leaf, ie during their growing season.
Trained apples and pears such as espalier or step over cordon. Most are on a dwarfing rootstock to encourage fruiting rather than growth, heavy winter pruning is not required.

Fruit Bushes

Currants and gooseberries are winter pruned unless they have been grown as a trained form.
If the latter then summer pruning is the norm.
Autumn fruiting raspberries may be pruned in winter if they weren’t pruned after fruiting.

Evergreen Trees and Shrubs, Conifers

Evergreens can theoretically be pruned at any time of year. Generally, however, they are best pruned in late summer. Sometimes they need to be pruned during the winter, perhaps to make room for a new building, fence or planting scheme. Or because they have been damaged.

Note re conifers – the majority of these will not regrow where they are pruned back to old wood. The best known tree which is an exception to this is Yew, Taxus baccata, which is one of the reasons it is used in topiary.

Winter Pruning in Your Garden – Deciduous Trees and Shrubs

Firstly, is the tree or shrub being grown for its –

ornamental flowers
decorative winter stems
decorative winter bark
none of the above, particularly

It may be helpful to colour code shrubs for when they should be pruned, particularly if there are less knowledgeable staff or volunteers. And actually as a useful aide memoire!

Late flowering shrubs, those that produce flowers on the tips of the current season’s growth are pruned in the late winter or early spring after they have flowered. They may be pruned by a third or even a half earlier in the winter in order to prevent damage from storms if the shrub or small tree is likely to rock and loosen its roots.

See separate article on pruning roses as some are bush and fit in this section whilst some are climbers or ramblers.

Apart from this, follow general advice as above

Winter Pruning in Your Garden – Coppicing and Pollarding

Those trees and shrubs grown or their winter bark or stems may be coppiced or pollarded to increase their decorative effect rather than simply pruned. However this technique is also used to allow more light to the lower levels of a planted border. Both techniques cause new shoots to develop rapidly during growing season.

Coppicing

This is a pruning technique that cuts trees and shrubs to ground level, to a low stump or potentially knee high. The actual height pruned to may depend on the desired decorative effect and surrounding plants during both the summer and following winter. It creates a multi-stemmed plant.

Pollarding

A similar technique which is carried out on standard trees, where they are cut close to their head at the top of a clear stem. Ideally, this method should carried out on young trees and shrubs once they have reached the preferred height. Older trees can be pollarded, but care should be taken not to prune off too much at one go.

Hedges

When hedges are pruned should take into account the potential for nesting birds. It is an offence under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 to damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built. The bird nesting season is usually considered to run from March to August. This means that a late winter prune may run foul of the law, so plan timings carefully.

Formative pruning refers to getting the shape correct and is carried out on young plants.
Deciduous hedges have formative pruning carried out in winter, including after bare root planting.
Old hedges which are out of control would require restorative pruning, preferably during the dormant season.
Whether your hedge is formal or informal will also guide how it is pruned.

Climbers and Climbing Shrubs

There are variables; for example, is it self-clinging or does it twine around a trellis? This will affect the way in which pruning is done, but not the when.

See articles on pruning Clematis for which varieties should be winter pruned. Also see article on pruning wisteria for winter pruning notes. (links are below)

For flowering climbers, the general rule of thumb is to follow the advice above for flowering shrubs.
If the climber is grown for foliage, then deciduous plants are usually pruned in the dormant period.
Where the climber bears berries overwinter, it is best to prune in the late winter or early spring.
Purely decorative vines are often treated as per Wisteria for pruning purposes. Where vines are being grown for grapes, follow relevant pruning regimes.

Winter Pruning in Your Garden – what next?

If you’d like further individual help with winter pruning in your own garden do get in touch and ask about Plews Gardening Lessons and Courses. We can arrange a one-off pruning lesson if that’s what you would like. This best for those with some gardening knowledge; total beginners gain more by having this topic included in a Basic Gardening Course

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