August Pruning Guidelines for Professionals: Cut Back These 7 Plants and Flowers Before It's Too Late
In the heart of summer, as stems stretch out, blooms brown, and a golden haze settles on everything, it's time to tend to your garden. August is a crucial month for pruning, a practice that not only maintains the shape and encourages growth of many plants but also prolongs their blooming and prepares them for upcoming seasonal changes.
Perennials like yarrow, garden phlox, salvia, lupines, delphinium, cranesbill geranium, coreopsis, lady's mantle, and campanula benefit greatly from pruning. Deadheading spent flowers by cutting back to a growth point with a new side bud promotes fresh blooms. Removing any leggy or unwanted growth is also essential.
Shrubs such as bottlebrush and Japanese holly should be pruned to maintain compactness and shape before winter. For thicker branches, heavy-duty loppers like Fiskars are recommended, while long-handled loppers, such as Suizan Japanese loppers, are ideal for clean cuts and shaping. Wearing gloves is recommended when pruning holly due to its toxic sap.
Annuals and some perennials, such as salvia and coreopsis, benefit from pinching, a technique that encourages bushier growth and staggered bloom times.
Recommended tools for the job include heavy-duty loppers, long-handled precision loppers, sharp hand pruners or garden scissors, and gloves. An extendable ladder might be necessary for pruning climbing plants like hydrangeas, while a telescopic ladder is ideal for reaching the heights they often grow to.
For those seeking to add a new plant to their patio pots this year, French lavender is a recommended choice. For sunny yards requiring little water during hot and dry summers, bottlebrush plants are a great option.
When it comes to pruning wisteria vines, regular pruning is key, especially for Chinese wisteria, which can become invasive in 19 US states. Wisteria should be pruned twice a year, once in winter for hard pruning and training, and again in August for thinning and cutting back long whippy new stems. 'Blue Moon' American wisteria, a native species, is a non-invasive alternative.
In cooler zones like zone 4 or 5, Japanese holly needs pruning no later than two months before the average first frost. Thyme, on the other hand, should be trimmed after flowering has finished to keep it compact and bushy.
Finally, seven plants are recommended for pruning in August: box, thyme, climbing hydrangea, bottlebrush, lavender, roses, and fuchsias. Remember, when pruning, always wear gloves to protect from irritants, especially with toxic plants like holly.
Sources: 1. Garden Myths: Pruning Perennials 2. The Best Pruning Tools for Every Job 3. When to Prune: Perennials 4. When to Prune: Shrubs
Gardening in August involves pruning several plants to maintain their shape, encourage growth, and prolong blooming. Recommended tools for the job include heavy-duty loppers, long-handled precision loppers, sharp hand pruners or garden scissors, and gloves. Garden tools like these are essential for tasks such as deadheading spent flowers or pruning shrubs like bottlebrush and Japanese holly.
