How I Make Pruning Not Feel Like Big Work
On timing and a system.
I wait all season for a stretch of days like we are having right now. Deep into winter, but with a respite of temperature, it’s time for pruning dormant trees and shrubs.
I am approaching it systematically this year:
Pruning saw in hand, I walked out the front door and lightly pruned the saucer magnolia I can see from my office window—mostly to remove dead and cracked limbs, the result of my children climbing it. And I tackled the hollies that had branches growing towards the house.
Zone 1 complete.
Each day, as I have a block of 15-20 minutes, I’m moving around the house in zones. Two days ago I reached the juniper creeping into the driveway, and I cut the fig tree back to a manageable height. They put on 2-3 ft. of growth each year, so to prevent challenging harvesting (and it overgrowing the space) I cut each stem back to about 4-5 ft.
Yesterday, I reached the sun hydrangeas. Did you know you can cut them way back? I just learned that a couple years ago. It’s made a huge difference in how they look throughout the growing season.
In a day or two I will have completed the circumference of my property without it feeling like big work.
And, this year, I’ve been saving strong limbs, big and small, as I go to create a nice little stack of staking poles. I have dreams of rustic trellises and dead hedges. I should’ve been born in the English countryside.