Renewal pruning of deciduous trees and shrubs
The Waning Moon and New Moon in November/December is a good time for renewal pruning of any deciduous trees and shrubs. If the weather is too wet or cold, you can move this task to January or even February. But make sure you have pruned back your deciduous specimen by the beginning of March.
There are two ways to prune:
Method 1 – the slow pruning option:
Before you start to ‘butcher’ your plants, stand back and have a good look. Some may need a radical prune (see section below), but most plants just need to get ‘back into shape’ and a ‘soft prune’ will just do that.
Deciduous shrubs and trees respond particularly well to this method, but it can also be used for evergreens.
First cut out old branches and stems that are too crowded. You can prune them back right to the main stem. Following that prune the rest of the bush/tree into a reasonable shape. Depending how fast the plant grows, take off a quarter to a third of its length. This ‘modest’ pruning method will make sure that the bush rejuvenates over a few years. But whilst this rejuvenation happens, you will still look out on a decent plant in your garden. This way of pruning is also a sensible option for very slow growing specimens.
The other alternative is more radial.
Method 2 – radical pruning option
If you have inherited a totally overgrown or neglected garden, you may wish to prune all plants back to the ground and start from afresh. This method is advisable if a plant is fast growing (although be careful, the more you prune, the quicker the plant will grow back) and if a plant looks very old, tired or even ill. Sometimes a radical pruning session at New Moon is the best option to let a plant spring back into life again. I once had an old holly bush that, due to a burst pipe at a neighbour’s property it had been waterlogged for a while. As a consequence it had lost all its leaves and quite frankly looked dead. So I decided to give it a final go. At the next New Moon I pruned back all side shoots and also chopped a third off the top.
At first nothing happened. But as soon I decided to chop it down completely, a few light-green shoots appeared. Now it is back again to its full old glory and a real focal point in our garden.