pruning special
SPRING PRUNING MASTERCLASS
Now is the perfect time to get your spring garden ready for the year ahead. Follow Frances Tophill and head gardener Tom Brown’s expert pruning advice to ensure your garden’s blooming in 2022
Tom and Frances prune a forsythia in midspring after flowering to encourage fresh new growth and maintain the plant’s shape
PHOTOS: SARAH CUTTLE, WEST DEAN GARDENS, WEST SUSSEX; JASON INGRAM
Pruning books and some websites can be incredibly daunting, full of jargon and complicated diagrams, which can put us off even getting our loppers out of the shed. Fear not, pruning is a lot more straightforward than you think and by following a few simple rules we can achieve much healthier shrubs. As sap rises through stems, plants can respond incredibly quickly to pruning by healing wounds and growing beyond those cuts.
Spring pruning encourages strong growth and is suited for plants that we grow for stem colour, foliage or those which flower in winter or later in the summer.
Pruning tends to be more radical in spring because plants have a whole growing season to recover before the year is out. Waiting until March allows the worst of the winter weather to pass as this can damage the fragile young shoots that follow this style of pruning. Climate needs to be considered here, too: the warmer and more sheltered your garden, the earlier you can get the secateurs out; if you’re in a frost pocket then it’s best to wait a few more weeks.