You can find all the supplies you need for pruning flowering shrubs at your local garden center – but is taking the time to prune really all that important?

Actually, pruning is one gardening task you shouldn’t skip. While many shrubs can turn out well without regular attention, flowering varieties need to be pruned to stay at their best.

However, proper technique and timing are essential when pruning flowering shrubs. For more on why to prune – and tips on when and how to get the job done right – read the following garden center guide.

How Pruning Helps Flowering Shrubs

With proper pruning, shrubs have a greater chance of reaching their full potential. When you prune, the plants enjoy several benefits, including:

• Larger blooms
• More frequent blooming
• Improved health and growth
• Decreased risk of pests and disease

Pruning can also rejuvenate plants that are overgrown or no longer flowering. And, of course, pruning works to give shrubs a more attractive, shapely appearance.

When to Prune Flowering Shrubs

Timing makes a difference when pruning shrubs. Prune at the wrong time, and you could end up with no flowers until the following year.

Every variety has unique needs, so it’s a good idea to ask your local garden center for guidelines on when to prune the specific types of flowering shrubs you own. As a rule of thumb, however:

• Prune spring-blooming shrubs after their flowers have withered and died
• Prune summer- and fall-blooming shrubs in late winter or early spring

When pruning is necessary for the purpose of removing dead, diseased or damaged branches, it can be completed at any time.

How to Properly Prune Flowering Shrubs

Before you begin pruning, you need the right tools for the job at hand. Depending upon the size and height of the branches, the task may require a hand pruner, lopping shears or a pole pruner – you can find all three tools at your local garden center.

If you already own the right pruning tools, make sure they’re clean and sharp before you start. And, if you need to prune any diseased or pest-infested branches, sanitize the tools between cuts to prevent the problem from affecting other parts of the plant.

When you’re ready to prune, the outcome you want to achieve will determine your approach:

• To encourage fuller flowering, pinch back the growth at the branch tips
• For denser interior growth, cut the branches back to just above a lateral bud
• To open up the shrub, make thinning cuts to the interior branches

Do you have questions about pruning flowering shrubs? Stop by your favorite local garden center – in northern Utah, that’s Millcreek Gardens – and talk to the staff. As plant experts, they can tell you everything you need to know.

Don’t leave your shrubs to fend for themselves. For advice on the ins and outs of pruning flowering shrubs, visit our Salt Lake City, Utah, garden center today.