Boxwood Pruning in March 2009

5March2009
A few notes on Boxwood pruning as we move into the growing season. Boxwood will grow fast this month. I never recommend shearing, though there is a place for it. The formal English/European Boxwood garden have both hand pruned and sheared hedges.

Personally, I don't like the sheared look because of the damage caused to the leaves, and the grayish cut edges later. After a while, the edges will look hazy, which is not the best look for the shrub or hedge. So I recommend hand pruning.

It isn't hard to hand prune, with a little knowledge, and a lot of patience. The time needed to properly prune boxwood usually detour landscapers from cutting by hand, but the benefits are great. The size of the hedge of shrub is maintained easier by hand pruning, and dead wood is minimal. The plant lives longer, has less die out, stays more natural looking, has inner growth, and doesn't have the haze caused by shearing.

Deep cuts are needed to space out growth maintaining a natural appearance and the overall affect is beautiful.

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Boxwood Pruning from a February Blog post

Tis the time to prune boxwood. We are also starting to prune many other plants for the winter season. Roses, Vitex (Chaste Tree), butterfly bushes, are all started in Mid to Late Winter to avoid promoting early growth in the winter.

We have almost wrapped up Crape Myrtle pruning though some will need proper pruning even into March. We like to prune Crape Myrtles either in a natural style where we tip the top and thin the interior, or in some cases we will shape them more if so needed by a customer for a specific reason. Discussion is needed to decide which method is best for the landscape. We never perform Crape murder, as was coined by Southern Living mag. years back. In many cases, we only thin the tree to keep it growing properly, and the top is left natural and untrimmed.

Proper trimming of boxwood is time consuming, but the time pays off as the plants fill in from the inside later in the spring. Beautiful mounds of Boxwood are around many Atlanta homes. Some have been sheared by power tools or pruned improperly with hand pruners by landscapers who only know how to keep the plant round in shape. Few prune properly, hence we are here to help you keep you boxwood healthy and growing at the size you prefer.

Leafminer have been heavy this year and last spring as well. Pruning by hand will remove many of the larvae in the end branches, but some spray may be needed by either organic or chemical means. In either case, control the leaf minor now in February before more damage occurs to the leaf. Eggs will be laid soon which will populate the plant next winter and start the process over once again.

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Time to prune Hydrangea's

Hydrangea macrophylla is best pruned very selectively now. The Hydrangeas are one of the more delicate plants to prune. As the pictures indicate, many buds look black from frost burn. Some may grow out as only the outer parts are burned but the next layer is nice and green. I'm hoping that is the case, and believe all will fine for blooms this summer.

In the case where buds are blackened all the way back, those will not leaf out from the damaged buds, and flowers will most likely be less. Some stems could be damaged as well. I am recommending waiting to see what comes out in the early spring, and quickly removing bad limbs once it is apparent they are not going to produce.

We always remove dead wood now, and usually take a few stems out totally as a means of partial rejuvenation of the inner hydrangea. I like to remove the oldest canes, which are usually larger, and sometimes rotting in places. Sometimes there are huge buds emerging from the crown area, and removing an older cane gives ample room for new growth to take its place.

This little lesson on Hydrangea pruning on highlights the whole process, as the issues of winter are different every year. Some of the aspects I've not mentioned are bloom removal and tipping back some canes. I would prefer you only try to remove the old flower, and no more for fear of removing all the buds. Misunderstanding of where to cut is easier done than not, so I don't recommend for you to try tipping.

If all you do is remove the dead wood, then you have done the most important part of Late Winter Pruning of your Hydrangeas.

H. tardeva (left) is a wonderful plant which can be cut very hard now. In the picture, I keep this one large because of the location, which has room to allows for size. In other places, we must cut them much more to allow use of a path, or a patio space.

H. paniculata (PeeGee) is another variety which can be cut now to contain and control the size of this massive variety.

Hydrangea 'Annabelle' is a low variety which can be kept low by cutting it back, but I wouldn't lower them to less than a foot.


You should be finishing up many varieties of plants in the Atlanta area gardens now. Abelia, Althea (Rose of Sharon), Barberry, Beautyberry, Butteryfly Bushes, Camellia Sasanqua, Crape Myrtle, Helleborous (Lenten Rose), Hydrangeas, Japanese Spirea, Liriope, Mahonia, Nandina, Ornamental Grasses, Osmanthus Tea Olive, Sweetshrub, Vitex,

For information:
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and/or newsletter:
http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Precision.Pruning.770-452-7121