Pruning Trees And Shrubs - One Mistake You Must Not Make!

For people used to gardening in regions where thesometimes possible to grow evergreens like the
winters are freezing cold, the question of when toolive or many species of Acacia.
prune trees and shrubs is thought of more or lessHowever in regions where the winter lows hover
in the following terms. Deciduous plants, that isaround the 5c mark, typified by nights that are
those that drop their leaves in the fall, being hardychilly but nonetheless frost -free, it becomes
to cold, should be pruned during their seasonalpossible to grow a far wider range of garden
dormancy, i.e. the winter, whereas evergreenplants, including species that originate from
trees and shrubs, excluding conifers, to thesub-tropical and even tropical habitats. Examples
extent that it is possible to grow them at all inwould include Delonix regia, Jacaranda acutifolia,
cold climates, are not touched until the spring, orTipuana tipu and Peltophorum dubium, amongst
at least until all possibility of frosts has passed.many.
It is also known by many home gardeners andIn such conditions, species belonging to this
presumably by all professional ones, that pruningcategory drop their leaves, not as a dictate from
deciduous plants in the spring can be highlytheir genetic code, as is the case with naturally
detrimental to the future health of the plant, duedeciduous plants, but as a temporary response to
to the loss of sap that would result from pruningthe relative cold of a Mediterranean winter night.
in the spring.And herein lays the trap! Many people on seeing a
However, for those of us gardening in mild wintertree of sub tropical origin out of leaf, unwittingly
climates, particularly in areas where frosts aremistake it for a truly deciduous plant, connecting
virtually unknown, the issue is somewhat moredeciduousness with cold-hardiness. The trouble is
involved. In fact many a serious mistake has beenthat the precise opposite is the case. Conditionally
made because of a misunderstanding ofdeciduous plants are often or not highly sensitive
deciduousness and its implications. These mistakesto cold, and are therefore liable to be seriously
involve pruning a certain type of plant at thedamaged by winter pruning. *
wrong time.So what can you do to avoid making such a
The phenomenon of leaf drop occurs in threemistake? In the absence of specific knowledge
main circumstances. One of these is when certainregarding this or that plant, the simple answer is
plants drop their leaves as a means of reducingto find out the natural habitat of a plant before
water loss during the hot, dry season. The leafpruning it. This is a piece of information that most
drop that takes place though in cold climates is apeople gloss over when they read up on any
genetically programmed response allowingparticular plant in garden literature, but as I hope
broad-leaved plants to survive the freezingwill be clearer now, it is information that can have
temperatures in the winter. It is a process thatsignificant consequences for the future of some
starts towards the end of the summer, becomesof your trees and shrubs. Therefore, if a tree is
most obviously visible in the autumn accompaniedout of leaf in the winter but is of tropical or
by often spectacular leaf colors, and terminatessub-tropical origin, it should not be pruned until the
at the beginning of winter with the actual fall ofspring or the summer, together with the
the leaves.evergreen plants.
Gardeners in cold winter climates are naturally*Note: Plants that are liable to be cold sensitive to
restricted in the number of species available toany degree, can be seriously damaged by winter
them. Where temperature fall below -10c, it ispruning, as they have less capacity in the cold
highly unlikely that any evergreens, conifersseason to resist the fungal and bacterial infections,
excepted, can be grown at all. In places wherebrought on by pruning cuts.
winter lows range between say -5c and -9c, it is