What: "The safest times to prune non-Spring bloomers are in the dead of winter, when the plants are dormant, or in early Spring when they show the first signs of new growth. Winter pruning is like carrying a four year old in asleep from the car-they are SO sound out, they'll never know what happened (even if you bang their little heads on the doorjamb a coupla times). In Spring, the plants are actively growing and have the strength to readily replace what you trim. Winter or Spring, never remove more than a third of any plant over the course of a single season unless you're SURE it's the right thing to do. (An example of a plant that can really take a big whackin' is butterfly bush (Buddelia), which is often cut back to the ground in Spring to control its rampant growth.) "

Writer: Mike McGrath

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Date: Feb 24 2014 4:17 PM