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Speaker 1: Coming to you from Studio A here at Proven Winners

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Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified podcast,

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radio and YouTube show with Stacey Hervella, me, Rick Weist,

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and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, today we'll

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talk about pruning. And wow, what a topic. It's an

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element of no maintenance landscaping. And when I say no maintenance,

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I don't mean an oh, I mean k now, cause

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it really pays to know what you're doing. And it's

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a stimulating topic. Did you see what I did there?

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Speaker 2: Yes?

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Speaker 1: Okay, so let's dive into it. You know, we'll cut

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off over the years. Very good, That is well done.

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I set you up there. Okay. So the questions I

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get throughout the years about pruning, many of them center

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around lavender, cutting back your ornamental grasses, spring bulbs, bud lea, hydranges,

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bramble fruits, rhododendrons, and azaleas.

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Speaker 3: Would you agree definitely, hydrangeas and lavender those are the

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big ones. And yeah, buddleia gets in there as well.

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And I think there's just a lot of things that

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people wonder if they should prune. Yes, And I want

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to say, right, off the bat to everyone listening that

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pruning is not necessarily a sign of a good, well

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maintained landscape. You know. I think that people tend often

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to prune things because it makes it look like they're

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taking care of their landscape. It's like I'm showing that

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I care because I went out and I meet bald

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these poor you know, yellow privets and red barberries at

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the gas station landscape, you know, and that they're like, Okay,

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now it's maintained.

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Speaker 2: Now you can tell that I care.

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Speaker 1: So you feel like you need to do so.

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Speaker 3: Some people, Yeah, but I don't think that that means

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just because it's maintained and pruned within an injury's life

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means that it's a good landscape, a healthy landscape. People,

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I think generally over prune. But maybe that's just my

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own personal No.

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Speaker 1: I agree. I'm not into the meatballs in tuna can look,

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I really am not. So it's interesting. And you know,

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when I think about one of the first things I

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know i'm cut off here, Stacy, but one of the

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first things that pops into my mind when we say

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we're going to talk about pruning is shoplifting.

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Speaker 3: Oh oh, like proplifting when people take plant parts from

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the store to them.

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Speaker 1: When I ran a garden center, it was the number

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one shopliftable item. Pruning shares.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that makes it. And they are expensive.

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Speaker 1: They're expensive' pracy. But the point here is, here's the

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reason I bring it up. It is worth it to

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have good quality pruning shares, good sharp, clean bypass pruning shares. Saw.

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If you want to do good job, you got to

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have good tools.

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Speaker 3: Got to get bypassed pruners. And that's the thing I think.

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And I made this mistake when I was new to

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gardening and I was a poor student. The anvil pruners

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were much cheaper than the bypass pruners. So the anvil

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prunters have a blade that comes down on a plate

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like sshers yep, and then the bypass pruners are like

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scissors where the blades bypassed one another. I didn't have

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a lot of money. I just saw the pruners. I

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was like, these are cheap and in my budget, and

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I bought them, and that was my first pair of pruners.

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Is embarrassing as that is to say, but anvilprunters are

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really only good for cut flowers. After you cut them

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off the plant and you're arranging them. Or I hear

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a lot of forestry people using because they stay sharper longer,

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but not a great choice around the land home landscape.

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I agree spring for the bypass pruners. You'll be glad

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that you did in selell your hands.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So when we talk about pruning, one of

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the first things we have to do is ask why,

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and we prune to maintain plant health, remove dead or

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dying branches, disease branches, to train a plant shape or height,

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improve the quality of the foliage or the stems or

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the flowers, because many times pruning will induce that on plants,

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restricting growth hazards, safety, first fruit production, rejuvenation of an

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old shrub, that sort of thing. So there's a bunch

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of reasons why you would permit it.

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Speaker 3: You know. I have given so many pruning talks in

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my time, and the number one thing that I say

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right off the bat, besides pruning does not equal a

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good landscape, is that you should always have a reason

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why you are punting. It might be multiple reasons, but

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every subsequent decision that you make about pruning, timing, how

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much all this other stuff depends on the reason why

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you are pruning in the first place. So if you

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don't have that reason good and fixed in your brain,

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you can't move on after that. So if you find

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yourself going, what do I do, you have to go

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back and revisit that reason that got you out there

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with your pruning chairs in the first place.

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Speaker 1: I agree, and so you'll hear these general rules of thumb,

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like the one third rule. You know, cut back guy

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one third. I use a budgeting analogy. Think of it

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this way, and this drives me crazy. Stacey is and

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I see it in landscapes, in homes everywhere. And that

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is let's say, for example, you're having problems with your

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personal budget, and so you need to do a little pruning.

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Don't spend as much money. You can't go in there

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and just cut ten percent off of everything. You can't

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decide I'm going to reduce my mortgage or my rent

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by ten percent now, or my insurance because you're not

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gonna get away with it, so you're gonna have to

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pick other things and reduce them further. So what I

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see is I see topping or snipping. So pruning is

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a lot like watering. If people are indecisive as to

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what to do. Then they decide to do just a

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little bit based on a schedule, and that's a big

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mistake because it creates real problems. Take a look at

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your pruning, step back from the plant and decide, well,

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you know that stem's coming out completely because it's a

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crossing or a weak branch, That one's going to be

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cut back by a third, That one I'm going to

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leave alone. I really believe selective pruning is important, but

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understandably there is so much confusion because there are different

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rules for different plants. Again, if I go back to hydranges,

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you created demystifying hydranges for that purpose because there's just

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so much confusion there is.

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Speaker 3: And you know, hydrangeas are a special case because you

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talk about hydrangeys as a monolith. They're all hydranges, but

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when it comes to pruning, there are different guidelines for

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the different types of hydrangs. And even though you love

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them all together at the garden center, even though you

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might say I love hydranges and mean all of the

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hydranges that we grow in our gardens, when it comes

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to pruning that it's not a one size fits all approach,

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and that is a little bit different than pretty much

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any other group of plants. But once you have understood

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sort of that key difference, it all kind of falls

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into place, I think. But yeah, you do need to

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know what you're doing. Again, if you don't know what

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you're doing, you can't do any of the following steps.

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You just can't do it because you don't know how

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much to cut off. You don't know when you should

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be pruning it. You know, it's so important, and I

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think so many people again they prune because they think

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they should not because they have a specific goal in minds.

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Speaker 1: At the same time, there's real benefit in pruning. So

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when we use the example of hydranges, there's benefit to pruning,

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for example a smooth hydrangea or a panicled hydrangea, and

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so learning the difference between the hydranges is important. Another

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one that we get asked about a lot this time

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of the year, staceye is bud lea. And again, give

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the plants a chance to start up in spring before

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we start hacking away, and then make a decision that's

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based on why. And with a bud lea, many times

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they'll bloom better if you do a good pruning, but

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you don't have to do it right away.

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Speaker 3: Right Just because you're pruning everything else in your garden

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at a specific time doesn't mean that that is when

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you should prune the budlia. And yeah, I do always

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recommend to people. Budley is especially hard because on some plants,

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when you're pruning, you can very clearly see where the

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leaves are emerging or will emerge. Those buds are very clear.

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On a budlia, it's not necessarily so clear, especially on

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the main trunk. I remember this is something I encountered,

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like in my first week of horticulture school, and they

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were like, prune this budley, and I was like, God,

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I don't know what to do because you can't see

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you know where the growth is going to come from.

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Speaker 2: So you can always wait. You know, if you give.

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Speaker 3: Yourself time to wait, you can research it, you can

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reach out to proven winners and we will help you

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with that decision. There's lots of other ways. That's why

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I always say when it comes to pruning, when end doubt, don't.

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Speaker 1: Agree, and I always say that try as much as possible.

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If you need to prune, do it after blooming. Obviously

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not before pruning, particularly with spring blooming plants. I like

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dormant pruning because you get a good look at the

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shape of the tree or the plant that you're pruning.

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And you also prune to open up a canopy. It

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allows more light into the canopy of the plant, and

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it allows air movement. So again, many different reasons to prune.

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And we're going to move this conversation into segment four

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because there's so much to talk.

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Speaker 3: About it, as I think we're pruning in every segment

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today standing and maybe not every question in mailbag, Plants

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and trial definitely about pruning. At least one question in

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mail bag very much about pruning, as well as a

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little bit of relationship advice that I think we're going

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to have to excellently to keep the peace there.

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Speaker 1: But I love that because again you talk about lavender

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or things like tomatoes or flowering shrubs, there are so

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many pruning rules and things that can apply. I'll end

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this segment with a pruning limerick. I wrote for you

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that shrub in my yard is ballooning. It needs some

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serious grooming. Just how do I decide my spouse is petrified?

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I'm holding a shears and assuming the fallout may be stark.

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If I cut and miss my mark, it's a pruning job, gaff.

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Everybody's gonna laugh. Maybe I'll wait until after dark. It's

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just gonna ramble on. I'll shape it to a palm palm.

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Maybe no one will notice I've hacked my stephan notice

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by morning light, I'll be gone. There's an approach plants

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on trial coming up next here on the Gardening Simplified Ship.

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Speaker 3: Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice

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shrubs with over three hundred and twenty five unique varieties

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to choose from. There's a flowering shrubber ever Green for

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every taste and every space. Just look for the distinctive

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white container your local garden center or learn more at

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proven Winner's Color Choice dot com. Reading's gardening friends, and

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welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show. Where it is spring.

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It is in full swing. The weather is maybe kind

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of sort of starting to cooperate here in Michigan and

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feel a little bit springy, although I have to say

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it has not really stopped people from working in their

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yards too much. I've seen a lot of people out

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there shivering, but I'm out there, but out there I've

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been out there a little bit doing all the perennial

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cutback and all of that jazz. But of course, I

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you know, I like to leave my perennials as long

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as I can. I don't want to wait too long

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because then everything starts coming up, and then you're stepping

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on all this soft and tender greenery as you're trying

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to take out your perennials. But of course I do

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know that a lot of insects and so forth are

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burrowing in there and waiting for their opportunity to emerge.

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And our conversation with Mike from Honeytree Nursery the other

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week definitely inspired me to make sure I'm protecting all

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those little guys. So I just pile everything up into

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a big cut off plant, part burrito burrito for a

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couple of weeks until they emerge. But yes, I have

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been out there, and I know a lot of people

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start to wonder about pruning. And if you have like

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a mixed border like I have, and you have where

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you have a mix of shrubs and perennials, it's really

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easy to just get in there and prune and prune

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and prune and prune, and then you're like, oh, crud,

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that didn't feel the same way. I don't think that

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was a perennial. I just cut one of my shrubs.

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Speaker 2: You know that that happens.

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Speaker 1: Can make that mistake. You know what drives me crazy

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is when I go through a neighborhood weeping trees. Weeping

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trees do not prune those things to look like it's

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the beetle's haircut from the nineteen sixties. You see them everywhere,

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a nice weeping cherry or something like that, and it

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looks like the beetles stepping off the airplane in New

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York in the nineteen sixties.

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Speaker 3: You've seen those, Oh I have seen them too many times.

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Speaker 1: Oh man, Yeah, it's.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's so unfortunate because those plants could be

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so cool. You know, there's nothing wrong with having a

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weeping plant that covers the trunk completely and makes a magical,

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unique little space in there instead of yeah, the the

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Dutch boy Bob there, you know, like the Bob haircut.

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But yeah, that's why do you have a weeping tree

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if you're going to just give it that silly little haircut.

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Speaker 1: Well, I think again, it comes down to the fact,

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like I said in the first segment taking the approach

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where you treat everything the same and cut it straight across,

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like when I was a kid and my mom would

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put a pan on my head and yeah, exactly right,

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because I've got pictures. Not going to show them to you,

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but I got pictures.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So lots going on right now with the pruning. And

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of course, so today's Plant on Trial did have to

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speak to this issue of pruning. And today's Plant on

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Tree Trial is perfected Mundo double purple reblooming azalea.

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Speaker 1: Interesting, but I'm glad you're bringing up the reblooming topic.

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Speaker 3: That's exactly it now, I will say right off the bat,

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you know, I wouldn't spend a whole whole lot of

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time talking about the perfected Mundo azaleas.

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Speaker 2: Even though I love them.

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Speaker 3: They're absolutely gorgeous, they aren't exactly hearty for us here

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in Michigan, out here in West Michigan. They do survive,

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but typically what happens is the winter was harsh enough

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that the plant lives, but the spring flower buds got

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you know, hit by all that ice. So you're kind

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of like, what is this thing doing when it's not

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even going to flower? But This is a reblooming azalea,

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and reblooming azaleas are very much a thing, but that

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surprises a lot of Midwestern gardeners because we don't have

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them here. All of the genetics that imbue that reblooming

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ability belong to species of azaleas that are much more

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tender than can grow in these climates. So Ever, since

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the first reblooming azalea was introduced, you know, twenty or

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so years ago, they have been largely considered warm climate plants.

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I would say, like mid Atlantic, say Virginia on down

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all the way through the South, You'll have no problem

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growing them down there. But I'm bringing this plant up

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because it is a great example of what it means

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to be a reblooming plant and how you prune reblooming shrubs.

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And we have a lot of reblooming shrubs, so there

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was a lot that I could have chosen, a lot

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of them that I've already covered. We've got our bloomerang,

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reblooming lilacs, we have got our sonic bloom whigela, and

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of course we have these perfected window azaleas. So reblooming plants,

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as the name implies, bloom alongside their conventional counterparts. So

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in the case of the perfected window azaleas, they are

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going to bloom in spring when other non reblooming azaleas.

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What In the case of the sonic bloom wigela, they're

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going to bloom in late spring when other Whyjeela do

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bloomerang lilac blooming in about mid May just like other ones.

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Speaker 2: And all of that.

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Speaker 3: First bloom on these reblooming plants is on what is

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known as old wood. Now I see a lot of

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people online get really confused by this. Every plant has

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old wood. It's just wood that was created in the

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previous season or several previous seasons before. But the question

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is not whether the plant has old wood. The question

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is where does it set the flower buds. And generally speaking,

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the earlier a plant flowers in spring, the more likely

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it is to have created those buds the previous season.

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Because you know, think about it when I said this

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when we had show off Forcythia's our plants on trial

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a few weeks ago. You know, right now, the weather's

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still quite cool. The plant would not nearly have enough

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time in Michigan to create flower buds to open in

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a few weeks. Instead, they're making them last summer, overwintering

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them and then opening them as soon as the going

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gets good in spring. So that's what it means to

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flowers on old wood. The flower buds were created on

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the wood from last year and stacey.

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Speaker 1: Perfect examples would be like lilac or magnoli or as yep.

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Speaker 3: Definitely those earlier it blooms, the more likely it bloomed

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on oldwood. But the difference with re blooming shrubs is

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that they bloom on oldwood with those other ones, but

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they also have the ability to bloom on new wood.

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And plants that bloom on new wood. Basically, what that

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means they didn't have any flower buds on them over winter.

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Once the going gets good in spring and they start

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leafing out and growing, then they create their flower buds

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for that same season. So examples of some shrubs at

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flower on new wood. Roses are a great example. Roses

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flower on Newood's why you're able to prune them in

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spring and they'll go on to bloom by about June.

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Panicle and smooth hydranges of course also bloom on new wood.

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So again this type no flower buds through the winter,

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and once it gets nice in spring they'll actually set

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those flower buds. Reblooming shrubs do both, and so what

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that means for pruning is that if you want to

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prune them, you're going to do so immediately after that

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spring bloom. And pruning them accomplishes a couple of different things.

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So number one, it will take away any seed that

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might have formed. This isn't usually a huge issue, certainly

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not on the azaleas. You're not going to get a

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lot of seed production, but it's one of the reasons

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why I do recommend doing this on bloomerang lilac because

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they do quite a lot of seed, and then that's

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just the plant putting a lot of energy into maturing

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seed that you don't want and probably won't even grow anyway.

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So it kind of refreshes them, reshapes them. And the

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key to reblooming shrubs reblooming well is that they have

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to put on a lot of new growth in between

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those two bloom times. And when you prune something and

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I know, record you've got this on tap for later today,

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When you prune a shrub branch and you take off

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that tip, that tip has it's like a hormone factory.

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That's just producing these growth suppressing hormones for all of

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the leaf buds below it. So if you don't prune it,

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you've got one stem growing up all season long. If

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you prune it, now all of a sudden, all of

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those lower buds are released, and now you have six

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or eight or more growth points from that same branch.

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And now instead of just having one branch that's going

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to produce a flower cluster, now you have six or eight.

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So you're increasing the amount of growth that can set

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these new wood flower buds. And when you prune a plant,

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especially if it is established, you are actually going to

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encourage it to regrow because it has all the energy

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of its root system down below to recover from that pruning.

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So those two things combined mean the plant is going

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to put on a lot of new growth. And the

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more new growth that plant puts on in that window

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of time, the better your rebloom is going to be.

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So this is a case where pruning is not necessary,

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but it definitely is beneficial. And it's a situation too

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where if you don't have time or you forget to

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do it, not the end of the world, but if

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you really want the best from your plant, this is

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a very easy practice. It helps to keep the plant

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in control, keep it having that nice tidy look that

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people like, and you're just going to get the best

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flower set as well.

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Speaker 1: And the benefit you have here is you're suggesting Stacy

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to prune in spring after it's done blooming, and that's

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what we're going to do with the spring bloomers anyhow,

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that's when we should be pruning them.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so a lot of people get confused, Oh, I

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don't want to mess up the rebloom. Now, if you

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don't prune these reblooming shrubs, you will actually get them

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to rebloom a little bit sooner. The pruning does delay

383
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that rebloom by a few weeks, but in my experience,

384
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it is more than worth it, yep, the amount of

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flowers that you get and the longevity of that rebloom

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because it doesn't kind of gas out, you know, in

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a few weeks, it's gonna by the time it recovers

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00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:07,759
from the pruning, the days are getting a lot shorter,

389
00:21:07,839 --> 00:21:10,000
the nights are getting longer, it's getting a little bit cooler,

390
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and that will help the rebloom really bring it home

391
00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:16,599
and look its best. Absolutely, So all of that for

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perfective Mundo double purple reblooming azalea, but also, like I said,

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a stand in for whatever reblooming shrub that you might have.

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And we have a lot, but there are other ones

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out there on the market. And you know, this is

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an important breeding goal for us because who doesn't want

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more flowers?

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Speaker 1: Correct, it's fabulous and and the number of cultivars now

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that are available, it's stunning to me. I mean, the

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benefit is fabulous.

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Speaker 3: If you're going out shopping this season looking for some

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new shrubs, definitely consider some of these reblooming shrubs. And

403
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now you know how to take care of them, and

404
00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:48,559
you know it's dead simple, so you are set to

405
00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:50,599
go for the season. Of course, visit your local garden

406
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:54,079
center for perfect Mundo double purple or any Proof and

407
00:21:54,079 --> 00:21:57,720
Winners reblooming shrubs or evergreens or any of our flowering shrubs.

408
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We're gonna take a little break. When we come back,

409
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:01,559
We've got the garden mail bags, so please stay tuned

410
00:22:08,799 --> 00:22:11,519
at Proven Winners color choice shrubs. We know that a

411
00:22:11,559 --> 00:22:14,640
better landscape starts with a better shrub. Our team of

412
00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:18,359
experts tests and evaluates all of our flowering shrubs in evergreens,

413
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:21,400
for eight to ten years to ensure they outperform what's

414
00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:25,559
already on the market. For easycare, reliable, beautiful shrubs to

415
00:22:25,599 --> 00:22:28,720
accentuate your home and express your personal style, look for

416
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417
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:34,400
local garden center or learn more at Proven Winner's Color

418
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:39,759
Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back to

419
00:22:39,799 --> 00:22:42,519
the Gardening Simplified shoe. Word is our pleasure to help

420
00:22:42,599 --> 00:22:46,000
you with your gardening questions, quandaries and conundrums, and if

421
00:22:46,039 --> 00:22:47,359
you have one of those, you can reach out to

422
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,880
us at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. There's a contact

423
00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,319
tab there, But of course I know at this time

424
00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:56,599
of the year, especially time is of the essence, you

425
00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:58,640
don't always have time to wait for us to get

426
00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:00,920
to your question. So I know that you can also

427
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,119
reach out to proven Winters dot com or proven Winters

428
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:06,200
color Choice dot com if it is a shrub question,

429
00:23:06,519 --> 00:23:09,319
and you will get a personalized answer from a wonderful

430
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,240
horticulturist who will be happy to help you in a

431
00:23:12,279 --> 00:23:14,640
more timely manner than we can here in our once

432
00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:16,920
a week show. But we do have a lot of

433
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:18,839
good questions and I tried to pick some questions that

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I think are relevant to everybody at this time of year.

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Speaker 2: So what we gott in mambag.

436
00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:28,319
Speaker 1: Raven writes, my pencil hollies were doing great all winter.

437
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:30,680
We had a little browning, but then a cold snap.

438
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,880
These containers are in my driveway get a lot of wind.

439
00:23:34,279 --> 00:23:37,599
I'm wondering if too much wind, not enough root protection,

440
00:23:37,799 --> 00:23:40,960
not enough water, or all of the above. This will

441
00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:45,119
be the third year that they have been there, and Stacy,

442
00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:49,039
I don't know where Raven lives, but the third year,

443
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,160
at least here in the north. The last two winters

444
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,079
have kind of been outliers. They have not you know,

445
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:58,279
this has been a tough winter, but the two previous.

446
00:23:58,319 --> 00:24:00,319
So to get a little bit of browning on a

447
00:24:00,319 --> 00:24:03,400
pencil holly, I don't think is unusual.

448
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:06,279
Speaker 3: Right, So I think a lot of people are seeing

449
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:08,960
something very similar to what Raven is seeing on our

450
00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:11,480
pencil hollies. So if you're not familiar with them, pencil

451
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:16,279
hollies are a broad leaf evergreen, not a needle leafed evergreen.

452
00:24:17,319 --> 00:24:20,599
And as we've talked about before, broad leaf evergreen so

453
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basically leaves that are not like a reduced scale on

454
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:26,319
like a juniper, or a needle like on a pine

455
00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:29,799
or a spruce. These are much more susceptible to winter

456
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:34,200
damage because they have that big broad leaf that all

457
00:24:34,279 --> 00:24:37,079
winter long, the sun is taking effect on it and

458
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:39,519
it's taking water away. Wind is taking effect on it,

459
00:24:39,559 --> 00:24:42,039
and it is taking water away. And if you live

460
00:24:42,039 --> 00:24:45,079
in a cold climate, and the ground or the container media,

461
00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:46,920
because these are in containers, and of course there'll be

462
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,160
pictures of Raven's hollies on the YouTube version as well

463
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:54,240
as in the show notes. You know, they they can't

464
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:56,599
take up water once that soil is frozen, so they're

465
00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:59,799
losing a bunch of water. They're not replacing the water.

466
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They can't replace the water, and as a result, these

467
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:04,839
plants do tend to brown. And I think you have

468
00:25:04,839 --> 00:25:07,240
a great point, Rick, if this didn't happen previous years

469
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:10,720
we have had more mild winters. But there are also

470
00:25:10,839 --> 00:25:13,920
are a combination of factors that will help prevent this

471
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:18,079
from happening. So mulch is a huge one. Definitely recommend

472
00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:19,799
a good two to three inch layer of shreaded bark

473
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:22,119
mulch over the plant. Really all times of the year.

474
00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:25,039
It will be happy, but it's especially crucial in winter,

475
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,960
and then making sure that the plant doesn't go dormant thirsty.

476
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:31,759
Don't send it off to bed thirsty. Make sure that

477
00:25:31,839 --> 00:25:33,880
even if that means giving it a little water like

478
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:38,240
Thanksgiving weekend or late in the season like that, it

479
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,400
needs to be well high rated when it goes into

480
00:25:41,559 --> 00:25:46,359
the winter or else this browning will occur. So really

481
00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:50,119
it's pretty minor on Ravens pencil hollies. But I have

482
00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,799
to say, once you see this kind of browning, it's

483
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,119
not going to come back. That growth is not going

484
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:59,359
to magically turn green. What can happen if the damage

485
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,880
wasn't super severe is that even though they are evergreen,

486
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:05,599
so they will drop those leaves and replace them with

487
00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,880
fresh growth. So I don't necessarily recommend that you run

488
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:11,279
out there right away and start pruning off the brown

489
00:26:11,319 --> 00:26:14,200
growth unless it's absolutely driving you crazy and it wasn't

490
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,319
too severe. You know, there's enough of the plant remaining

491
00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:18,960
that it's going to be able to survive and recover

492
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:22,240
if you can wait to see if it comes out enough.

493
00:26:22,279 --> 00:26:25,279
You know, if the stem itself is very brown and withered,

494
00:26:25,599 --> 00:26:27,279
it's probably done and you can just go ahead and

495
00:26:27,319 --> 00:26:30,480
prune it but really, yeah, there's not that much that

496
00:26:30,519 --> 00:26:33,960
you can do in these situations except to remove it

497
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:35,920
and then try your best to make sure that it

498
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:37,680
doesn't happen in the future.

499
00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:38,319
Speaker 2: This can happen.

500
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,119
Speaker 3: This happens really commonly with boxwoods. If you ever go

501
00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:45,920
to like any city in March, it's like brown boxwood City,

502
00:26:46,759 --> 00:26:48,440
you know, because so many people love them for like

503
00:26:48,519 --> 00:26:51,039
restaurants and that kind of thing. And you know, Raven,

504
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:54,720
I've also found in my yard in the middle of winter,

505
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:58,480
things might look totally fine, but then when spring comes along,

506
00:26:58,599 --> 00:27:00,759
that's when all of a sudden, that damn is just like, wait,

507
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:02,240
where did that come from?

508
00:27:02,319 --> 00:27:04,240
Speaker 1: Well, and part of it is because it's not just

509
00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:07,680
wind damage, it's sun damage and winter also when the

510
00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:11,920
sun is low in the south, and so boxwood or

511
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:14,240
pencil holly's that are on the north side of a

512
00:27:14,279 --> 00:27:16,160
house or the east side of the house that gets

513
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:19,920
some structural shade tend to do better. If you're going

514
00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:24,279
to continue to grow these, maybe consider an anti desicate

515
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:28,000
spray in fall on these plants. It's going to help.

516
00:27:28,039 --> 00:27:30,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good idea too. That definitely helps to

517
00:27:30,759 --> 00:27:33,839
prevent further water vapor from escaping the leaves.

518
00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:37,000
Speaker 1: So you have a letter from Jamie and some pictures.

519
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,519
Speaker 3: Yes, so Jamie, you know, I wanted to answer her

520
00:27:40,599 --> 00:27:43,839
question because this is great. This is something that again

521
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:45,480
I think a lot of people are dealing with. And

522
00:27:45,559 --> 00:27:48,119
also I don't want Jamie's relationship to be risked.

523
00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:51,119
Speaker 1: Exactly. I love this note, I really do. And I

524
00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:53,400
have some advice for the boyfriend and the uncle.

525
00:27:53,599 --> 00:27:54,720
Speaker 2: Oh okay, okay.

526
00:27:54,799 --> 00:27:57,079
Speaker 3: So Jamie says, Hi there, I have a limelight hydrangea

527
00:27:57,079 --> 00:27:59,440
that's about ten years old. I've never proved it, and

528
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:01,880
my boyfriend been very happy with how it performs each year.

529
00:28:02,559 --> 00:28:05,000
I did a hard prune after a lot of research.

530
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:08,440
Good for you, Jamie, Yeah, to go read me, she said.

531
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:09,160
I did not wing it.

532
00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:10,119
Speaker 2: I swear. She said.

533
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:12,960
Speaker 3: I wanted to correct small crossing branches. Plus it was

534
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:15,359
getting too close to the house and it needed a refresh.

535
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:17,000
So she had her reasons all in place.

536
00:28:17,039 --> 00:28:18,240
Speaker 2: Smart, very good.

537
00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:20,279
Speaker 3: Why she was pruning the limelight, she said, So he

538
00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,000
was fine with it how it was. I'm concerned now

539
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,079
that I'm messed up and it will not bloom as

540
00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:28,119
my boyfriend and his uncle, who is a landscaper, said

541
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:30,880
it will be sticks all year and not bloom sat

542
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:33,759
crying face emoji. If that's the case, I will be

543
00:28:33,799 --> 00:28:35,920
so devastated that I ruined a plant that he loved

544
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:38,480
and it produced. Well, here's a before and after. Could

545
00:28:38,519 --> 00:28:40,400
you give me insight on how you would have pruned

546
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:42,720
it and if I messed things up? But if all

547
00:28:42,759 --> 00:28:44,680
does look well, can I expect to see blooms this

548
00:28:44,759 --> 00:28:47,000
year and a healthy, refreshed shrub.

549
00:28:48,039 --> 00:28:50,559
Speaker 1: Absolutely, you're going to see it. Way to go, Jamie.

550
00:28:50,759 --> 00:28:56,119
I am so proud of you. You executed entremneurial savvy.

551
00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:02,000
Tell your boyfriend you're a genius. It's all going to

552
00:29:02,079 --> 00:29:04,920
work out, and you know, as Al Harris said in

553
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,319
Apollo thirteen, I think this will be your finest hour.

554
00:29:09,599 --> 00:29:11,279
I think it, you know. And as far as your

555
00:29:11,359 --> 00:29:15,240
uncle is concerned, again, Stacy, you guys have done so

556
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:20,319
much work on Hydrange's demystified. I would refer your uncle

557
00:29:20,799 --> 00:29:22,720
to those articles or websites.

558
00:29:22,759 --> 00:29:24,680
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I can't understand where they're coming from,

559
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:26,759
because if you look at the before and afters of

560
00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:31,079
Jamie's Limelight Hydrangea, it was definitely really big and she

561
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:34,559
reduced it quite a lot, and so it is a

562
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,839
huge difference, and that is obviously a shock in and

563
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,759
of itself after you've done that. So yeah, people might

564
00:29:41,799 --> 00:29:45,039
be a little bit dubious, but pannicle hydrangels can absolutely

565
00:29:45,079 --> 00:29:48,319
handle this and it will absolutely recover and grow well

566
00:29:48,359 --> 00:29:50,200
and it will bloom this year. Now, I do want

567
00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:53,400
to caution you about one thing though, because this is

568
00:29:53,599 --> 00:29:56,079
likely to happen. I've seen it happen, especially with limelight,

569
00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:59,960
plenty of times. If a mature limelight gets pruned really

570
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:03,839
hard like this one did, what often happens that first

571
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:08,319
year after the pruning is it shoots up tons of branches.

572
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,319
So I've used this analogy many times on the show.

573
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,119
When you have an established plant like this, the root

574
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,599
system is basically an engine to fire growth. And when

575
00:30:17,599 --> 00:30:21,680
you have reduced you know, the plant that it was

576
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,519
that it was fueling, Now all of a sudden you

577
00:30:24,599 --> 00:30:27,519
have like, you know, a five point zero liter engine

578
00:30:27,559 --> 00:30:30,319
in like an escort, a Ford escort, you know, something

579
00:30:30,519 --> 00:30:30,880
like that.

580
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:32,839
Speaker 1: So it's a good analogy really.

581
00:30:33,079 --> 00:30:35,279
Speaker 3: So you have a small plant but a big engine,

582
00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:37,559
and so as a result, what the plant wants to

583
00:30:37,559 --> 00:30:40,480
do is put all of that energy into recovering from

584
00:30:40,559 --> 00:30:43,160
this pruning. So what can happen a lot is that

585
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:48,039
it will put out really long stems with huge flowers,

586
00:30:48,079 --> 00:30:53,160
like insanely huge flowers, and that can make those stems

587
00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:56,559
a little bit floppy because the flower is so big.

588
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,119
But this is a temporary thing. It's only going to

589
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:01,920
happen this year, and as the plant starts to build

590
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:06,599
up sort of a new you know, structure exactly, it

591
00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:10,160
will be totally fine. And yeah, these big flowers are

592
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,200
really amazing to see. It's it's actually kind of a

593
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:13,039
fun thing to watch.

594
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 1: It is really cool and I love that analogy. And Stacey,

595
00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:19,519
the important thing for people tuned in or watching on

596
00:31:19,559 --> 00:31:22,759
YouTube is to go back to the previous segment and

597
00:31:22,839 --> 00:31:27,319
your conversation about plants that bloom on new wood. Yes,

598
00:31:27,359 --> 00:31:29,960
and that's what we have going here, right. That's so

599
00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:31,319
Jamie's going to be fine.

600
00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:33,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm Jamie. You're going to be fine. You will

601
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,759
have the last laugh. The flowers will be big, and

602
00:31:36,759 --> 00:31:38,839
if you like to do things with you know, big

603
00:31:39,039 --> 00:31:41,079
dried or fresh limelight flowers, you are going to be

604
00:31:41,119 --> 00:31:41,519
in heaven.

605
00:31:41,559 --> 00:31:42,319
Speaker 2: But yeah, don't worry.

606
00:31:42,359 --> 00:31:46,759
Speaker 3: You didn't do any permanent damage to your beautiful limelight

607
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:49,599
and you can tell your boyfriend and uncle to call us.

608
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:54,400
We'll yeah, if they don't believe it, we will with it.

609
00:31:56,680 --> 00:31:59,039
So thank you both so much for your questions. We're

610
00:31:59,079 --> 00:32:00,960
going to take a little break and then we're gonna

611
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:03,039
come back and we're going to keep talking about pruning.

612
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:04,240
Speaker 2: So please stay tuned.

613
00:32:10,079 --> 00:32:12,880
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified Podcast, brought to

614
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:15,920
you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our award winning

615
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616
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617
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618
00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:27,640
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where today we

619
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:31,240
are on the cutting hedge. We're talking pruning, Stacy. I

620
00:32:31,319 --> 00:32:34,240
was thinking cutting your grass in spring is a form

621
00:32:34,319 --> 00:32:36,839
of pruning and you get those I think they call

622
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:42,039
them glv's and I have it right here, green leaf volatiles.

623
00:32:43,119 --> 00:32:46,039
Which is that aroma you get when you cut the grass.

624
00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:47,559
Speaker 2: Yes, that's yeah.

625
00:32:47,599 --> 00:32:51,599
Speaker 1: I used to have a fresh mowing grass cologne that

626
00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:54,519
I would like that. Yeah, I had to get rid

627
00:32:54,559 --> 00:32:56,880
of it. I was getting looks when I would grow up.

628
00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:01,000
But you know, as it as it relates to pruning,

629
00:33:01,599 --> 00:33:05,279
people tend to ignore trees until there's a problem like

630
00:33:05,359 --> 00:33:09,680
a storm. Pruning super important in trees again, opening up

631
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:13,400
the canopy, taking care of problem limbs. We prune all

632
00:33:13,519 --> 00:33:17,240
kinds of stuff when we garden tomatoes. When you look

633
00:33:17,279 --> 00:33:21,640
at an indeterminate tomato, a tomato that doesn't set a

634
00:33:21,759 --> 00:33:27,079
terminal bud, pruning indeterminate tomato so the plant puts more

635
00:33:27,279 --> 00:33:30,920
energy into the fruit. We allow more light into that plant,

636
00:33:31,359 --> 00:33:36,240
better air movement. I personally believe that that's really really important,

637
00:33:36,559 --> 00:33:39,480
and it's something that we haven't talked about yet today, Stacey,

638
00:33:39,559 --> 00:33:42,960
but that would be for people to look up or

639
00:33:43,039 --> 00:33:48,240
to understand. Terminology called apical dominance.

640
00:33:47,759 --> 00:33:49,440
Speaker 2: Correct very very important.

641
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:53,160
Speaker 1: And so if a plant again is producing that bud

642
00:33:53,279 --> 00:33:57,400
at the tip, once you prune it back, as you noted,

643
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,000
it's going to force some outward growth.

644
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:00,400
Speaker 2: Yep.

645
00:34:00,559 --> 00:34:04,599
Speaker 1: And that's something that we call apical dominance. So you know,

646
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,279
a pinch to grow an inch. As far as annuals

647
00:34:07,279 --> 00:34:11,960
are concerned, I love pinching annuals perennials, cutting them back,

648
00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:15,800
and don't cut back perennials in the growing season too soon.

649
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:19,719
Maybe the plant is done blooming like a peony. But

650
00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,800
if the plant is healthy. Again, remember the foliage is

651
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:26,760
absorbing sunlight the process of photosynthesis, you're going to have

652
00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:31,280
a healthier plant as opposed to just because it's herbaceous,

653
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:32,159
hacking it to the.

654
00:34:32,119 --> 00:34:33,400
Speaker 2: Ground, right for sure.

655
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:35,840
Speaker 3: Perennials are definitely a plant that you know you can

656
00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:39,119
cut off any dead parts in spring, but after that

657
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:42,400
you usually don't want to be pruning them unless you're

658
00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:44,800
doing something like a lot of people will pinch flocks

659
00:34:45,039 --> 00:34:48,880
yep to keep it shorter and stronger, these summer flocks.

660
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,400
The Chelsea chop yep, famous Chelsea chop of course, Mom's

661
00:34:52,679 --> 00:34:56,840
classic choice for people to pinch in you And I've

662
00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,159
mentioned this on the show before, but you know, I

663
00:34:59,199 --> 00:35:02,320
know books are kind of like going out of style.

664
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,280
People don't really invest a lot in books, even gardening

665
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:07,000
books anymore, because I just figure you can find it

666
00:35:07,039 --> 00:35:09,519
all online. If you are going to invest in a

667
00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:13,280
single gardening book for your library, it should absolutely be

668
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,280
The Well Tended Perennial Garden by Tracy Di Sabado Oust.

669
00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:18,719
If you have perennials. Of course, if you don't have perennials,

670
00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:20,800
this book we'll do you no good. But if you

671
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:24,239
do have perennials. Honestly, this book is amazing. You will

672
00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:28,320
learn so much. And she spent years literally pinching and

673
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:31,679
pruning every plant in her garden at different times, recording

674
00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:34,800
all of the results. And the cool thing about implementing

675
00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:38,119
her techniques and findings is you can actually completely change

676
00:35:38,119 --> 00:35:40,400
your garden. You can delay bloom times so different things

677
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:44,280
will bloom together, and you can eliminate the need for

678
00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:48,159
staking on some things because when you prune them again,

679
00:35:48,599 --> 00:35:50,519
the plant has all that energy of its root system,

680
00:35:50,559 --> 00:35:53,559
and if it's putting it into less of the plant,

681
00:35:53,599 --> 00:35:56,360
what will typically happen, especially with perennials, is everything just

682
00:35:56,360 --> 00:36:00,639
gets beefier stockier. Chuck, So that is such a good

683
00:36:00,639 --> 00:36:03,280
book and we'll give you so many great ideas on

684
00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:05,960
how to maintain your garden. That is like the pruners

685
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,800
the Perennial Pruner's Manual of Love that book.

686
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:10,480
Speaker 1: And upright setums are another.

687
00:36:10,519 --> 00:36:12,039
Speaker 2: Oh yeah for sure, Yeah, definitely.

688
00:36:12,119 --> 00:36:13,760
Speaker 1: Yeah. So that's a great way to go. Look up

689
00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:18,800
Chelsea Chop also bulbs, cutting them back, tulip, staffodils, these

690
00:36:18,840 --> 00:36:22,039
various plants when they're done blooming, leave the foliage on

691
00:36:22,199 --> 00:36:25,519
for a little while and allow that photosynthesis to take

692
00:36:25,559 --> 00:36:29,239
place with the bulbs before cutting them back, you can

693
00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:32,719
plant annuals in between and get them off to a start.

694
00:36:33,119 --> 00:36:36,880
House plants, The best time to prune houseplants, I believe

695
00:36:37,039 --> 00:36:40,880
is in spring, when there's plenty of light to fuel

696
00:36:41,079 --> 00:36:45,320
recovery new growth, and you can take them outside if

697
00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:49,599
you live in a cold climate, So houseplants in spring vines,

698
00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:54,039
many vines benefit from root pruning if we look at

699
00:36:54,039 --> 00:36:58,280
with sterias or trumpet vines again showing that vine whose

700
00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:02,719
boss may get the plant to produce some blooms in

701
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:04,800
lieu of producing even more growth.

702
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,039
Speaker 3: Yeah, some people do claim that on wisteria, which of

703
00:37:07,079 --> 00:37:12,440
course can be notoriously hesitant to flower, and definitely as

704
00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:17,000
a plant that can appreciate some restricted root room. But

705
00:37:17,119 --> 00:37:20,599
mostly I find that wassteria needs to have its its

706
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,280
length controlled. Yes, you know, because it just wants to

707
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:24,719
grow and grow and grow, and like, yeah, I don't

708
00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:28,159
need to produce any flowers. I'm I'm good, gotta show

709
00:37:28,159 --> 00:37:29,360
it exactly.

710
00:37:29,599 --> 00:37:35,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course questions about grapes. With grapes don't be timid.

711
00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:39,239
We prune them in the dorm late dormant season January

712
00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:44,480
to March cane and spur pruning, pruning bramble fruits. It's

713
00:37:44,519 --> 00:37:48,960
important to understand that essentially they're going to fruit on

714
00:37:49,159 --> 00:37:53,079
canes that live for two years. The roots and the

715
00:37:53,119 --> 00:37:58,519
crowns are perennial, so you get the new canes and

716
00:37:58,559 --> 00:38:02,079
then you get the second you canes called the floracanes.

717
00:38:03,039 --> 00:38:05,039
Those are the ones that are going to produce the fruit,

718
00:38:05,119 --> 00:38:06,719
and those are the ones that we're going to prune

719
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:12,639
back hard after they've fruited. So spring is a time

720
00:38:12,679 --> 00:38:18,480
to do a lot of your pruning. But again you

721
00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:23,360
have to apply these principles as Stacey basically of timing

722
00:38:23,599 --> 00:38:29,159
is everything, as we've discussed today, And some people would say, well, okay,

723
00:38:29,199 --> 00:38:33,400
but what about the evergreens. Well, yeah, you know, there

724
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:38,599
are evergreens like ewes or taxes or boxwood that people

725
00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:42,760
traditionally prune into shapes and you could prune pretty much

726
00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:48,559
anytime you wanted to, whereas other evergreens or conifers, it

727
00:38:48,679 --> 00:38:51,800
is easy to make a pruning mistake. And here's where

728
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:57,960
I apply Stacy's rule. Don't I mean, would you agree

729
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,239
that if you prune a conifer and you do it

730
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:03,880
wrong Stacey, that it's gonna take a long time, if ever,

731
00:39:04,039 --> 00:39:05,000
for it to recover.

732
00:39:05,199 --> 00:39:08,519
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can definitely screw things up pretty badly. But

733
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:11,519
that said, you know, I do want to say when

734
00:39:11,559 --> 00:39:15,760
when we're talking about something like that. First of all,

735
00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:19,639
always if it's a safety issue, please put the plant

736
00:39:19,679 --> 00:39:22,760
health out out the window. Don't worry about when is

737
00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:24,559
the best time to do X, y or z. If

738
00:39:24,559 --> 00:39:28,599
a branch is dangling or threatened to dangle, or something's growing,

739
00:39:28,639 --> 00:39:31,400
you know, like a like a rose or something growing

740
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:33,960
into your front walkway and the mailman's getting caught on

741
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,159
it every time they walk up to your house, just

742
00:39:36,199 --> 00:39:39,239
cut that thing back, don't you know. Let's do safety first.

743
00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:41,920
But the other thing is also if you're taking out

744
00:39:42,159 --> 00:39:45,880
entire branches of a tree, that's also a different situation

745
00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:47,559
than when you're just cutting into.

746
00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:48,480
Speaker 2: The actual growth.

747
00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:54,320
Speaker 3: Yes, but you know, generally speaking, yeah, people should not

748
00:39:55,760 --> 00:40:01,679
assume that that more doing more is better for the plant.

749
00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:02,239
Speaker 2: There.

750
00:40:03,119 --> 00:40:07,760
Speaker 3: It's not necessarily that it is extremely complicated or extremely mystifying,

751
00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:12,880
as we might imply with hydrange is demystified, but that

752
00:40:13,039 --> 00:40:16,440
you know, you need to know the consequences of those

753
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:18,239
actions and how it's going to affect the plant. And

754
00:40:18,639 --> 00:40:21,320
you know sometimes that you just need to do a

755
00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:23,320
little research first and not go out there and be

756
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:25,119
in the moment and just keep pruning and then go

757
00:40:25,199 --> 00:40:25,800
what have I done?

758
00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:26,840
Speaker 2: Don't don't do that.

759
00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:32,039
Speaker 1: That's exactly it. The landscape evergreens of course, like I mentioned, hemlocks,

760
00:40:32,119 --> 00:40:36,079
box would arbor viti use. I think summer is a

761
00:40:36,079 --> 00:40:39,079
good time to do that, or early summer it's going

762
00:40:39,119 --> 00:40:43,159
to stimulate some new growth. Don't do it just before winter.

763
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:46,079
You're going to get some die back at that point.

764
00:40:46,239 --> 00:40:49,519
So I really believe early summer on those, if they

765
00:40:49,559 --> 00:40:52,519
need some shaping, would be the time to do it,

766
00:40:52,559 --> 00:40:55,039
and then stay see a lot of confusion with people

767
00:40:55,079 --> 00:40:58,880
on clematis or clematists, however we want to pronounce it

768
00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:02,719
because people people will read about group one, group two,

769
00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:07,119
group three, clematis get totally confused. It's part of the

770
00:41:07,159 --> 00:41:13,000
reason I love cultivars like Happy Jack or Sweet Summer

771
00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:17,960
Love because essentially with them you cut them back to

772
00:41:18,079 --> 00:41:21,480
about two or three feet above the ground in spring

773
00:41:21,519 --> 00:41:26,000
when everything's looking dead yet and just step back and enjoy.

774
00:41:26,679 --> 00:41:28,400
I mean it's amazing, Yeah, it really is.

775
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:30,039
Speaker 3: And you know, it's a great example of what I

776
00:41:30,119 --> 00:41:33,719
was saying about the root mass functioning as an engine

777
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:36,840
to grow, because people might say, well, geez my, you know,

778
00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:39,840
Sweet Summer Love Clemenis was twelve feet tall, twelve feet

779
00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:42,079
long last year. Now I'm going to cut it back

780
00:41:42,079 --> 00:41:44,559
to two feet. How is it going to get back

781
00:41:44,559 --> 00:41:46,840
to twelve feet? Well, again, it's the answer is in

782
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:50,679
that root engine, and by cutting it back, you are

783
00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:54,079
basically resetting that growth point. If you didn't prune something

784
00:41:54,119 --> 00:41:56,679
like a Sweet Summer Love or Sweet Autumn Clemenist, what's

785
00:41:56,719 --> 00:41:58,400
going to happen is the growth is going to start

786
00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:01,280
from all of those buds that are way up on top,

787
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:03,840
and eventually when it flowers, it's going to flower less

788
00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:06,039
and the flowers are going to be way up in

789
00:42:06,119 --> 00:42:09,119
the tree tops. So this is a case where pruning

790
00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:12,159
helps you to have the best look. And the thing

791
00:42:12,239 --> 00:42:16,360
about clematis is that as long as you leave something

792
00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:19,719
in the ground, you know something to grow. The worst

793
00:42:19,719 --> 00:42:23,039
it's going to happen is you get a year without flowers.

794
00:42:23,079 --> 00:42:25,960
So generally speaking, I would say I hear from a

795
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:27,880
lot of people who don't know what group or what

796
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:30,119
type of clematists they have, and they don't know what

797
00:42:30,199 --> 00:42:32,639
to do so when in doubt. If you can find

798
00:42:32,639 --> 00:42:35,159
a name, you can probably look that up. If you

799
00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:37,920
don't know, split the difference, do the two foot thing.

800
00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:41,039
If you have few to no flowers, well you know

801
00:42:41,079 --> 00:42:42,679
you have to prune a little lesser at a different

802
00:42:42,719 --> 00:42:45,760
time next year. But at least in that case, even

803
00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:47,920
though clemitis can be very sensitive, as long as you're

804
00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:50,800
leaving something for the plant to recover with a good

805
00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,880
two to three feet from the ground. Again, the worst

806
00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:56,800
it's going to happen no flowers, disappointing, but at least

807
00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:57,599
you didn't lose your plant.

808
00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:00,559
Speaker 1: So on this topic today, to cut to the chase

809
00:43:01,079 --> 00:43:05,000
and sorry and the lawn and short of it is,

810
00:43:05,559 --> 00:43:09,000
people like Stacy and myself or other gardeners or garden

811
00:43:09,079 --> 00:43:13,039
center people or experts. This is an area where we

812
00:43:13,159 --> 00:43:18,199
do a lot of marital counseling. So educate yourself and

813
00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:22,000
try to work it out. Yes, because this has created

814
00:43:22,039 --> 00:43:23,320
a lot of upset through.

815
00:43:23,159 --> 00:43:25,800
Speaker 2: The years, and it's only plans, and it's only plans.

816
00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:30,159
Speaker 1: Thanks Stacy, it's been fun. Thank you, Thank you Adrianna,

817
00:43:30,239 --> 00:43:33,840
and thank you to you. Thanks for watching The Gardening

818
00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:37,840
Simplified Show on YouTube or listening on podcast or radio,

819
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:38,760
have a great week,