Blog: What to focus on when the weather’s bad and time is short…
For the vast majority of us, rain, snow and ice have stopped outdoor gardening, so if you can get out, here’s a quick late winter pruning guide. I managed this in an hour on Monday (February 1), my last time ‘across the doors’ – it’s been wall-to-wall sleet, rain and snow, which looks like it won’t let up, thanks to Storm Darcy!
For more in-depth guides to winter pruning, visit my Guide to Late Winter Pruning and Plants to Prune in January and February. Discover why deadheading is so important to most flowering plants – unless you want to keep the seed. What I managed before the weather closed in…
Shrub roses
White Desdemona, deep pink James L Austin (both David Austin Roses), and apricot Leah Shaw got the chop. Shorten stems by half and remove any dead, diseased or crossing branches. Ideal time: January-February, can be done as late as March.
Climbing roses
Cream Claire Austin, pink James Galway and apricot Crown Princess Margereta were completed. Remove dead, diseased and crossing branches. Keep main shoots as close to horizontal as possible to encourage flowers and tie them in. Prune flowered side shoots back by two-thirds. Cut out very old branches from the base. Ideal time: December-February.
Hydrangeas
Lacecap hydrangea Zorro and mopheads Blue Ninja, Magical Revolution Pink and Magical Revolution Blue were deadheaded. It’s best to leave flower heads on the plant over winter to protect the buds beneath (I may have been a little keen here). Cut back to the first strong, healthy buds. Ideal time: February-March.
Hellebores
An easy one – cut off the old leaves to prevent Hellebore Leaf Spot disease and show off the emerging flowers. If your plants have flowered (mine haven’t) and they’re hybrids, cut off the flower heads before seeds form. They won’t be true to their parents, often a ‘muddy’ colour! Ideal time: November-February.
Clematis cirrhosa Freckles
This winter-flowering clematis is in Pruning Group 1, flowering on shoots produced the previous summer. My Freckles was messy and needed a tidy up. Nothing drastic, but a trim straight after flowering so next year’s flowers have a chance to develop. If yours is seriously out of control, take a three-year pruning approach. Cut back one-third of the plant to the base. Repeat on another third in years two and three. Ideal time: Immediately after flowering-March.
Sorbaria sem
This attractive deciduous shrub suckers, so I radically renovated it. To do this, cut all stems below 20cm, with some older and weak growth removed completely at the base. Remove outlying suckers to create a more compact plant. For an ordinary pruning year, cut back flowered stems to strong young shoots. Remove up to 20 per cent of old stems at ground level. Ideal time: November-March (for renovation); immediately after flowering for ordinary pruning.
Cornus (dogwoods)
To keep plants producing bright bark for next winter, prune out one-third of stems if you want to keep some height. If not, they respond well to hard pruning (called stooling, down to 7cm) or pollarding (60-90cm). My new C. sanguinea Midwinter Fire isn’t as vigorous, so it will only need to be pruned every other year. I used to prune for cuttings by sticking them into a nearby pot! The golden dogwood (C. sericea Flaviramea) received a light trim only to even up its growth. Ideal time: February-mid-April
What I didn’t manage…
Apple trees
Unless you have one small tree, pruning apple and pear trees is a big winter job – see my page for detailed info. If you don’t have time, just remove dead, damaged, diseased and crossing branches. Ideal time: November-early March.
Herbaceous perennials
The Barbados asters provided good early winter structure, but the wet weather has made them a soggy mess, so time for them to go. Ditto the golden marjoram and Helenium. Ideal time: February/March.
Deciduous grasses
The golden Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra Alboaurea) was left on the plant over winter to help protect it, but it needs to go. It’s slow-growing and is often slow to resprout in spring. Ideal time: February/March.
Autumn-fruiting raspberries
The dead stems are not pretty – I wish I’d reached them! Simply hack them off at ground level. Thin overcrowded canes in summer. Ideal time: February.
I hope you manage to find a slot of clear weather this month to make use of this quick late-winter pruning guide!
