Azaleas at Ladew Gardens
More online coaching going on, this time about all the renewal pruning everybody should be doing on their shrubs. I’m talking cherry laurels, azaleas, spireas, forsythia, viburnum, weigela, and lots more. Renewal pruning may be counter-intuitive, but it really works to improve the look and health of shrubs, and is fun to do.
Pruning is hard of tricky to teach, I’ll admit, but man, it’s so easy to put “prune camelia” or whatever plant into Google and get the answers. And then to check Youtube for demonstrations of pruning techniques. And me, I still consult Lee Reich and Peter McHoy in print.
My job (self-appointed) is to keep talking it up – pruning, that is. I’ve declared it the most important totally neglected gardening task in American yards today! It makes shrubs so much happier, and gives homeowners all kinds of confidence in the garden. I’ve actually been told people it’s empowering.
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Can you advise whether the mounding azaleas should be spot pruned or pruned like a hedge?
Definitely not like a hedge. Selectively pruned for health, as explained in the link to my longer article.
Susan,
Thanks for the reminder. I have so much to do in the garden that I hadn’t thought to add pruning the azaleas to my to do list.
J.
I hate pruning, it’s one of those tasks that if I never had to do it again, I’d be soo happy. Part of my problem is that in a lot of instances the deer beat me to the pruning leaving the shrubs looking choppy and leaving me clueless as to where to start to help the shrub recover. There is the added factor that most of the shrubs that are in my yard were left by the previous owner who chose not to prune at all and they were huge when I got here and now some are giants. My dear husband offered to prune some for me, his idea of pruning is to cut it down to the ground. “It will grow back” he says. So I ask you is there hope for me to become a proper pruner???
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