The ins and outs of winter pruning

Don’t wait until you’re forced to hack a pathway to the front door. Andrew Unsworth encourages gardeners to get cutting

It’s almost July — so the time has come to think about pruning your garden. It’s something that must be done as leaving it encourages growth to get out of hand. Pruning promotes  flowers and fruit, as well as shaping bushes and trees that need it.

Gardeners either  love pruning or regard it as a chore. Some do too much and others do too little. Some do both, as in neglecting the job for ages and then being forced to hack a pathway to the front door.

A friend recently asked me to  advise her on how to go about pruning her garden. I’ve known her garden for over 25 years and it’s come a long way, or grown a long way, despite some pruning. Now there is just too much of it, crowding you in, towering over you, and shading everything.

block_quotes_start Pruning opens opportunities. Place for other plants, underplanting where you could not before, and better flowers and foliage on existing plants  block_quotes_end

We agreed on what trees to remove completely, what shrubs to prune drastically, and what could  be planted in the now-shady areas.

In the end, as always, it is up to the gardener. I simply advised her to demolish as much as she could bear, and rest assured it will all bounce back fresher and more beautiful in spring.

I went home and applied the same advice to my own overgrown jungle.

I have Ficus nitida trees and an ornamental privet that have to be pruned drastically every winter. There is a wisteria that has ramped its way up an old magnolia tree — beautiful when it flowers but not good for the magnolia.

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Then there is an ancient apricot tree that hardly bears fruit any longer, but which screens an unsightly view. Parts have died back and  some branches were removed long ago. It’s ugly and I decreed that it must go.

But did I have the courage to do it?

I got home one day this week to find that my housemate had roped in a local handyman. They  had hired a chainsaw, and the apricot tree was gone. The handyman had removed all the debris, apart from a pile of wood for the braai. The deed was done and I felt like a murderer. I paid the bill.

But one huge branch had fallen on my low lapa wall and demolished a metre of it, leaving a dreadful view of rusty roofs. 

Still, I was secretly delighted. I now have the chance to plant a new tree in my garden, or two smaller ones.

The new tree must provide food of a kind that is usually too expensive to buy. Nut trees, such as pecans, take years to bear. Do I have the time?

I have a pomegranate tree and a bay tree. Mulberry trees are fun but very messy. So it’s between an olive and a fig tree, both small enough not to re-create the original problem.

This is an example of total change, not simple pruning, but the message is the same: pruning opens opportunities. Place for other plants, underplanting where you could not before, and better flowers and foliage on existing plants.

Here are some basic rules for pruning (without going into detail for every species):

1) Find out which plants need pruning and how to do it: roses, hydrangeas, fruit trees are all different. Read up in any garden book or do your research on Google. 

2) Cut out all dead or spindly wood.

3) Use sharp secateurs, saws and loppers. Wounded plants are susceptible to disease and pests.

4) Seal the cuts on thicker branches with a tree sealer from your nursery.

5) If it seems dangerous, for example, a tall tree, call in a professional.

For more information: Check out the  excellent guidelines on The Life is a Garden campaign by the South African Nursery Association