Watch a hungry herd of Holsteins shear the bushy fir and spruce that dot the pastures of many northern New England dairy farms. They must be doing something right! You can see them chewing the pale green, soft new growth as soon as it appears in spring. When the short growing season is over, the cows stop snacking on evergreens and go to other fodder, enabling the cut ends to heal rapidly. Like these bovine botanists, you can trim evergreens to slow their growth. But many healthy, well-sited, well-chosen evergreens need little to no pruning to look beautiful.
Q What exactly is an evergreen?
A Trees and shrubs are usually divided into deciduous and evergreen categories. Deciduous trees lose their foliage during the winter, whereas evergreens keep theirs year-round. Evergreens can have either broad leaves like the American holly and Southern magnolia, or narrow leaves like pine and yew. There are also a considerable number of semi-evergreen plants that are deciduous in the North and evergreen in the South.
Q If I plant evergreens around my house, where should I plant them for the best effect and the least amount of maintenance?
A Evergreens offer a home landscape many advantages. In this example (illustrated at right), large blue spruces to the northwest block cold winter winds; rhododendrons and boxwoods can grow in their shelter. On the south side of the house, evergreen trees aren’t as good in the North because when they grow tall they will block the warming winter sun. But in warm climates, a Southern magnolia on the south side provides summer shade. To keep the amount of maintenance and pruning to a minimum, choose evergreens with a mature size that suits your available space.
USING EVERGREENS TO ENHANCE A LANDSCAPE
Needled, or narrow-leaf, evergreens
Arborvitae (Thuja spp.)
California incense-cedar (Calocedrus decurrens)
Cedar (Cedrus spp.)
China fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata)
False cypress (Chamaecyparis spp.)
Fir (Abies spp.)
Hemlock (Tsuga spp.)
Japanese plum yew (Cephalotaxus spp.)
Japanese yew (Podocarpus spp.)
Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica)
Juniper (Juniperus spp.)
Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa)
Pine (Pinus spp.)
Spruce (Picea spp.)
Yew (Taxus spp.)
Broadleaf evergreens
Andromeda (Pieris spp.)
Azalea and rhododendron (Rhododendron spp.), some
Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis)
Boxwood (Buxus spp.)
Camellia (Camellia spp.)
Cherry-laurel (Prunus laurocerasus)
Chinese witch hazel (Loropetalum chinense)
Gold-dust plant (Aucuba japonica)
Holly (Ilex spp.), some
Mahonia (Mahonia spp.)
Nandina (Nandina domestica)
Skimmia (Skimmia japonica)
Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)
Sweet olive (Osmanthus spp.)
Q How do I know when to shear evergreen hedges?
A Many people think that trees grow like children — all year-round and without a pause. Needled evergreens, however, have briefer, faster growth than do deciduous trees and shrubs, which grow throughout most of the summer. For most needled evergreens, new growth occurs for only about 3 weeks, although some, such as hemlocks and junipers, have a longer season, and yews make a small additional growth in late summer where climate permits.
You need to watch for this fleeting period, because it is the ideal time to shear your evergreens. Pines, most spruces, firs, and yews begin to grow about the time that freezing nights are over and the ground is warming up (this may vary from April or even earlier in the South to mid-June in the colder sections of the country). Arborvitae, cypress, hemlock, and juniper start their growth a little later.
Fortunately, because evergreens have a built-in dormancy that is well adjusted to their locality, they seldom start to sprout much ahead of schedule each season. Even during an unusually early warm spell in winter, they are likely to wait until the proper time to start growing.
A Trees and shrubs with cones and needled or scalelike, narrow leaves are conifers. Evergreens with needles are called conifers, but not all produce typical cones. Yews and junipers, for example, produce berries. (Technically, conifers produce naked seeds protected by cones; juniper “berries” are actually modified cones.) To add to the confusion, some conifers are not evergreens. Larch or tamarack (Larix spp.), bald cypress (Taxodium spp.), and dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) have needles and bear cones but shed their needles every winter.
Q How often do I need to prune conifers?
A Pruning makes it possible to keep a conifer at a certain size or allow it to grow so slowly that it hardly seems to be growing at all. Pruning can also turn several evergreens into a hedge or transform one into a whimsical garden accent. But once you start pruning a conifer to alter its normal growth, you have to keep pruning it one or more times a year.
If you don’t have the time to prune, choose a conifer with a mature size that suits your available space and let it grow without interference. A well-sized conifer generally needs no pruning unless it has a dead, damaged, or hazardous limb. Conifers are easy to grow and, unlike some deciduous trees, don’t sucker out.
Choose the right-size plant for your spot to minimize pruning. The American Conifer Society classifies conifer sizes:
Miniatures grow less than 1 inch per year and are less than 1 foot tall at 10 years.
Dwarf conifers grow from 1 to 6 inches a year and are 1 to 6 feet tall at 10 years.
Intermediates grow 6 to 12 inches per year and are 6 to 15 feet at 10 years.
Large conifers grow more than 1 foot per year and are over 15 feet tall at 10 years.
Q When’s a good time to prune conifers?
A You can take off a shoot or branch of a needled evergreen at any time, but the best time to prune is during dormancy or in spring as soft new shoots expand. That gives lateral (side) buds time to develop bushy growth and cover up the pruned stem’s brown tip.
If your goal is controlling growth, you can wait until the growth is over but still soft in late spring or early summer, depending upon the plant. You can prune pines when the new spring growth takes the form of fast-growing, upright, light-colored shoots (candles) that are pinched to restrict the plant’s size.
Shearing usually takes place in spring and early summer, when conifers are putting on the fastest growth. In the long run, shearing is harder to maintain than selective thinning, in which you remove one branch at a time. Remove dead, diseased, and damaged material at any time.
SEE ALSO: Page 138 for candling.
Q I just planted a spruce tree. How much should I prune it?
A Again, your goal is all-important. Unless you are training topiary, let the conifer’s natural habit be your guide. If you want your spruce to keep looking like a tight, narrow cone branched to the ground, then you need to start shaping it when it’s young. It is difficult to change the form of a tree once it is well established. If you allow it to grow too wide at the base, for instance, it will be very difficult to decrease the width later on without spoiling the appearance of the tree.
Q My big old juniper looks sad. Can I rejuvenate it?
A People often wonder if they can renew an evergreen tree or hedge that has grown too large and out of shape by cutting it back nearly to the ground. Although you can do this to a smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) with good results, it will not work with an old and tired evergreen; you will have to replace it. Evergreens do best when you remove no more than a quarter of their bulk in any one season.
Very few conifers sprout from old bare wood. Here are a few exceptions. If you have any of the following, you can cut back even an older plant heavily and it should recover and begin to grow again:
Bald cypress (Taxodium spp.)
Plum yew (Cephalotaxus spp.)
Redwood (Sequoia spp.)
Sequoia (Sequoiadendron spp.)
Yew (Taxus spp.)
Q How far back can I cut a conifer branch?
A That depends upon your goal and which conifer you want to prune. For the safety of people and property, for example, you may have to remove an entire branch back to the branch collar at the trunk or to another branch. For many conifers, however, cutting into bare wood behind living foliage will kill the branch. Check the Plant-by-Plant Pruning Guide, beginning on page 311, for more information.
POPULAR EVERGREENS AND WHERE TO CUT THEM
Fir (Abies spp.) Look carefully at the branch to locate live buds. All firs bud on new season’s growth and some bud on one-year-old wood.
Cedar (Cedrus spp.) Like fir, cedar buds on new growth and sometimes on one-year-old wood.
Plum yew (Cephalotaxus spp.) Prune on old or new wood.
False cypress (Chamaecyparis spp.) To prune this genus, cut living foliage but do not cut back into bare wood.
Juniper (Juniperus spp.) Cut into branch areas producing live foliage.
Spruce (Picea spp.) Take stems back to a bud, which is usually on new growth but sometimes on one-year-old wood.
Pine (Pinus spp.) Pinch soft new growth at the stem tips, called candles, before it hardens in summer. Otherwise, prune with caution.
Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) Prune or shear soft new growth.
Yew (Taxus spp.) Prune on old or new wood.
Arborvitae (Thuja spp.) Prune where there is green growth.
Hemlock (Tsuga spp.) Prune on old or new wood with needles.
Q Sheared conifers look unnatural to me. Is there another way I can control their size?
A Yes, there is. Most landscapes, including naturalistic ones, look better without sheared trees. For a more natural look, cut back individual branches with pruners to slow growth or produce a denser specimen.
Even if you don’t need to control size, that doesn’t mean you’ll never have to prune. There will still be times when you need to remove woody limbs — when one dies, for instance, is diseased, or is damaged in a storm. You may also have to cut off failing lower branches shaded out by larger limbs above. Use thinning cuts as you would with a deciduous tree. For best results, remove no more than 15 to 25 percent of the total leaf area in a year, and spread out major pruning over several years. Keep the following points in mind:
1. Always cut a damaged branch back to a larger branch or a trunk.
2. Tall-growing evergreen trees look best when growing with one strong, central leader. Fortunately, this is their natural tendency. Occasionally, however, a competing leader or two will develop. To save the tree’s appearance, remove the interloper, shorten it, or, if feasible, bend it down.
SEE ALSO: Thinning, page 63.
Q When is the best time to shape conifers?
A You can actually prune conifers at any time, but some stages are easier on plants than are others.
To shorten or remove limbs, cut them in late winter when the tree is dormant.
To shorten limbs only slightly, do it in the very early spring so the new growth will cover your cuts within a few weeks.
To shear, begin after growth starts in the spring.
WITCHES’-BROOMS: GOOD OR BAD?
Many dwarf and miniature evergreens derive from witches’-brooms, or genetic mutations of woody plants. A witches’-broom is a mass of congested shoots that develops from a single point in the branches of a tree. Small conifers are in such demand that horticulturists tramp through woods and pastures looking for new and interesting mutations to propagate. Witches’-brooms also occur on deciduous trees such as oaks, maples, willows, and hackberries. In hackberries, double infection by gall mites and powdery mildew fungus triggers these growths, which can be cut back if you dislike them.
Q I have a tiny yard where I grow small evergreens for year-round interest. How should I prune them?
A With the popularity of town houses and the necessity for small lots in crowded areas, demand is increasing for small landscape plants. Some evergreens, like the spreading yew, some mugho pines, and trailing junipers, grow short and shrubby naturally.
But no matter their size, some conifers still need occasional pruning. A spreading yew that is 2 feet tall and 10 feet across may look interesting on an open hillside but it will look out of place beside the front step. Remove dead and damaged material. Light pruning, such as removing stray shoots or a leader on a shrub you want to keep low, is best. Maintain spreading, creeping, or globe-shaped evergreens according to their natural growth habits. Thinning and heading back are the preferred pruning methods to use. Avoid shearing very small conifers when possible.
SEE ALSO: Thinning, page 63 and Heading Back, page 61.
Q I planted a pine by my driveway. It’s growing so fast that I’d like to control its size. Can I shear it like a hedge?
A When pines are growing, they send out numerous little upright shoots called candles. Avoid shearing them to reduce the chance of cutting into the woody stems, where new growth will not develop. Instead, pinch, snap, or clip off one-half to two-thirds of each candle to control size. Pinching or snapping the soft new growth is known as candling.
For big jobs, use hand shears and cut into the soft new growth. Pruning with electric clippers is problematical, because shearing too deeply can kill the branch; thus a slip of the hand can ruin your plant in a flash.
Q The bottom branches on two white pines died. Can I remove them?
A Remove the dead branches. When young, many evergreens have beautiful lush branches that grow to the ground. But as the trees grow big and old, their lower branches may be shaded out and die. Trees such as Japanese red pine (P. thunbergiana) have such attractive bark that you may want to show it off. Think hard before cutting; once the branches are gone, you can’t put them back!
If you remove lower branches on a very large evergreen, you may find that sometimes a lower limb has a large, fat, burl-like growth where it joins the trunk. If so, cut the limb just outside the burl instead of flush with the branch collar.
Q I just planted a hemlock. Should I shear it?
A Hard shearing offers maximum growth control. If you prefer not to shear severely, you can prune lightly and let your tree gradually increase in size throughout its life. For more natural landscapes, a better, more sustainable choice than shearing is to buy a conifer that matures at a suitable size for its allocated space. Then the only pruning your tree will need is the removal of the occasional wayward shoot. Read plant labels carefully, do your research, and in the long run you’ll save time, money, and energy.
Q What will shearing do to my new evergreen?
A Shearing gives plants a formal look, making it a fine choice for topiary, geometrical accent plants, or refined hedges. When you shear off new growth, a tree’s energy, which normally would cause the limbs to make active upward and outward growth, is redirected into the numerous side buds and twigs. The result? You control the plant’s growth, forcing it to grow bushier.
A When you shear a plant to control its size or shape, the plant looks bushy on the outside, but behind the surface growth, just inches deep, is a larger area where vegetation has been shaded and died out. Growth is dense on the outside because shearing removes the terminal buds, thus activating dormant buds below the tips.
Terminal buds (1) are the fat brown buds that were formed the preceding year. You can spot them at the end of each twig from midsummer to the next spring. Cutting the ends of this new growth will create a denser appearance.
Dormant buds (2) are the thousands of nearly invisible smaller buds that develop on an evergreen’s twigs and branches. Ordinarily they do not grow, but clipping or shearing at the proper time stops the active growth of the terminal buds and stimulates the sprouting and growth of many of the dormant buds.
Q How often do I need to shear the yews in front of my house?
A Shearing is a high-maintenance activity. Two or three shearings a year may be necessary if you want to confine your trees to a tight, geometrical form.
THREE PRINCIPLES OF PRUDENT SHEARING
1. For best results, start small. Folks often say, “When that plant gets to the height I want, I’m going to start shearing it.” This is a mistake. It is difficult, if not impossible, to get a hedge or a tall, loose-growing tree to tighten up if you start shearing too late in its life.
2. Never take off more than 15 to 25 percent of an evergreen’s total green material. Bear in mind that removing more than this may damage the tree.
3. Shear every year. It is important that shearing be an annual event, because if you miss even one year’s clipping, it is difficult to get some trees back into shape.
Q When should I shear evergreens?
A Begin after growth starts in the spring. Spring shearing offers several advantages:
The small interior buds will start growing at once.
The cuts you make on the new growth will heal quickly.
New buds will form where the cut was made and completely hide any shearing wounds. The tree will look for all the world as if growing that way was its own idea.
Q I was too busy this spring to shear my hedge, and now it’s summer. Can I shear it now?
A The answer is a qualified yes. It’s fine to shear after the spring growth flush, but it’s best to stop by late summer. If you wait until late in the season, the small buds you hoped to stimulate will remain dormant. You’ll cut off the newly formed buds, and unsightly cut stubs may show through winter, or frost may hurt tender new growth.
Q How do I shear an evergreen tree?
A Think of shearing as giving the tree a buzz cut. Cut off the ends of all the branches on the outside of the tree, much as you would shear a sheep or a dog. Each type of evergreen grows differently: new growth on hemlocks tends to be droopy; new growth on spruce or fir is stiff. A good shearing takes only a few minutes per plant — time well spent. Look over your plantings every day or two when they are making their most active growth.
Q Which tools should I use for shearing evergreens?
A You can choose among several tools, depending upon the task you want to perform.
Long-handled hedge shears are the best tools for shearing because they’re easy to control and safe to use.
Fingers. If you have only a few small evergreens, you can give them a light pruning by simply pinching off the ends of the soft new growth with your fingers. This pinching is especially effective on the stiff, upright candles of dwarf pines.
Electric clippers can be a big help when you’re doing a lot of shearing that must be completed early in the growing season, because they are so much faster than hand shears. They are especially good for shearing hedges.
Thin-bladed shearing knives are good for fast work and are widely used on Christmas-tree plantations, but they are not well suited to the precision work required in home landscaping, and they can be dangerous, too.
SEE ALSO: Shearing-Tool Safety, page 47.
BATTLING BAMBI
In some parts of the country, deer are major pests and “prune” woody plants — even thorny ones — down to stubs. You can reduce damage by choosing species that are deer-resistant. No plants are deer-proof, though. Appetites vary from region to region, so plants that deer ignore in one spot may get munched elsewhere. Deer eat anything when hungry enough, even plants described as deer-resistant.
Q There’s a blue spruce in our town square that gets sheared every spring. Why shear it when spruces look good without shearing?
A Perhaps the spruce in the town square was chosen without thought to its ultimate size. It would probably be much bigger without its annual shearing. Some evergreens grow about a foot each year. By shearing annually, you can shorten this growth to no more than a few inches per year, which appreciably lengthens the time you can enjoy the tree before it gets too big and needs replacing. Without pruning, the lower branches on spruces often die with age, and the trees form an irregular crown. Annual shearing or pruning helps counteract this tendency. Well-sheared, tight-growing trees make favorite nesting places for birds, as they like the protection of the dense branches for raising their young.
Q Which kinds of evergreen trees are best for shearing into a specimen?
A Pines are not ordinarily a good choice for sheared specimens because they grow fast and tend to lose their lower branches. They really look best when allowed to grow into magnificent, full-sized trees.
Firs and spruces lose their lower branches after a few years, although they make attractive temporary sheared plantings.
Arborvitae, hemlock, and spruce make medium-sized, stately specimens that will last a long time. They hold their branches to the ground well if you shear them regularly. If you live in the eastern United States, be aware that hemlock woolly adelgid insects endanger the health of both eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and Carolina hemlock (T. caroliniana). Mountain hemlock (T. mertensiana) and western hemlock (T. heterophylla) are not under threat.
If you determine that shearing is right for you and your plant, shear to its natural shape. Hemlock and American arborvitae grow as narrow pyramids and look best when they are sheared to this form. Spruces develop a pyramidal shape, too, but are more spreading at the base. Globe arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis ‘Globosa’) needs little or no pruning to keep its natural round shape.
SEE ALSO: Shaping Hedges, pages 157–164.
Q I want to buy a Colorado blue spruce to grow as a formal, shaped specimen tree. How do I go about this?
A First, pick the right plant. Choose one with a form similar to the shape you want. At the nursery, look for a young tree that is bushy and well shaped so that you get your project off to a good start.
Here’s what to do when you get home:
1. Planting day. Prune off any broken roots or branches.
2. The first year or two. Let the tree get established and prune it as little as possible, removing only dead or damaged wood.
3. After the first few seasons. Let your tree grow a little each year in its early life. One or two light shearings each growing season are enough, unless you are trying to achieve a highly formal look.
4. After the tree has reached the desired size. Depending upon the kind of tree, severe shearing once a year can probably keep it from getting larger, though more than one light shearing may be necessary during the growing period.
Q Can I dwarf a full-size conifer by pruning it?
A Yes, but … if you want to grow dwarf evergreens, it is better to buy and plant true dwarfs than to continually shear tall-growing specimens. Not only do real dwarf plants look more natural, but they’re also easier to care for, and there’s less danger that they’ll outgrow the spot you’ve given them.
If you want to keep a spruce, fir, pine, hemlock, or arborvitae to a height of 1 or 2 feet for a lifetime, follow the instructions for shearing specimen trees. Instead of one or two light shearings each year, however, you will need to give the tree a tight clipping every four or five days during the growing season. Shearing must be especially severe once the tree reaches the desired height to keep it small. Root pruning every few years is another way to slow down the top growth and make shearing easier and more effective.
Q What can I do about my creeping juniper, which outgrew its space?
A When a plant exceeds its allotted space — like this juniper, which has wandered into the sidewalk area — you will have to prune it back. Just prune it at the time that will cause the least trauma to the plant: late winter to early spring.
Cut to live wood when possible. There may be times, however, when you must prune to a spot without foliage for safety’s sake. That wood will not regrow, so make sure that enough live wood grows above the cut to creep over it.
Q I have an arborvitae screen on my property line, and I like the privacy it gives us. How do I keep it dense?
A Spruces, arborvitae, and hemlocks make ideal screens or windbreaks because they grow slowly and tight and hold their lower branches to the ground longer than do faster-growing pines and firs.
Once your arborvitae screen has been in the ground for a year or two, you can clip the top and sides annually for a few years. This helps the plants grow in tight and close to the ground. Keep the sides sheared so the width will be manageable. Make sure that the top part of each tree is narrower than the bottom, because lower branches need all the light they can get.
Q Do broadleaf evergreens need much pruning?
A Broadleaf evergreens generally need little pruning, and the pruning they do need is similar for all of them. Azalea (Rhododendron spp.), holly (Ilex spp.), mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), and rhododendron grow throughout much of the United States, while bay laurel (Laurus nobilis), holly, mahonia, some jasmine (Jasminum spp.), oleander (Nerium oleander), sweet olive (Osmanthus spp.), gold dust plant (Aucuba japonica), and olive (Olea europaea) grow in the warm South and along the Pacific Coast. In addition to these, many shrubs are deciduous in the North and evergreen in the South, such as certain varieties of abelia, andromeda (Pieris spp.), azalea, barberry (Berberis spp.), cotoneaster, daphne, euonymus, pyracantha, privet (Ligustrum spp.), and some viburnums. Most of these are sold potted or with their roots in a ball of soil, so no pruning at planting time is necessary.
Q When’s the best time to prune my broadleaf evergreens?
A As with many other woody plants, you can snip an over-long stem or remove dead, damaged, or diseased material at any time. Do major corrective pruning of broadleaf evergreens from late winter to early spring, before new growth starts.
For the best floral display year after year, prune spring-flowering broadleaf evergreens after blooming, before the plant has set the next year’s flower buds.
Q How do I prune my rhododendron?
A Snip off the terminal, or end, buds of the new sprouts to force the buds to develop and grow along the sides of the branches. After the plant reaches blooming size, if the branches are growing too long, you may pinch off the small end buds. Be careful to leave the big fat blossom buds that will be next spring’s blooms. If you want your bush to stay compact, continue pruning back to a lateral (side) bud or branch inside the crown for the life of the plant. You will be the proud owner of a handsome, bushy, vigorous shrub.
Prune most broadleaf flowering evergreens the same way, except for plants that grow leggy, like heavenly bamboo (Nandina spp.). Cut back a few of the oldest, tallest stems each year to promote new leafy shoot growth.
Q I just planted two azaleas and a rhododendron. Do I need to train them?
A Azaleas, mountain laurels, and rhododendrons are closely related, so their pruning the first few years after planting is much the same. Often they have a loose habit of growth. Early pruning to train young plants is important if you want a tight, compact bush. Pinch or cut back an inch or so of new growth at the stem tips above a set of leaves in early summer.
Q When should I prune camellias?
A Camellias also need some pinching of the end buds in early summer if you want to the plants to grow bushy. If you prefer a particular shape, perhaps tall and narrow against the house, cut out the shoots that are growing in the wrong direction. Train the longer shoots by carefully bending them and tying them to a lattice or a trellis in the way you want them to grow.
SEE ALSO: Espalier, starting on page 179, and page 22 for disbudding camellias.
Q Do I have to prune my hollies?
A Holly needs very little pinching when it is young, since it tends to grow tight naturally. Some folks shear Japanese holly to a particular shape. If you are growing a holly hedge, it will need an annual clipping during the growing period. If you prefer your holly to grow tall, however, prune it as little as possible until it reaches the height you want. This may take a few years, so be patient. Stems of red-berried hollies such as American holly (Ilex opaca) make attractive holiday decorations. Remember that every time you cut branches for decoration, you are actually pruning, so be mindful of where and how much you cut.
Q I planted a holly by the front porch. Now it’s huge. Do I have to get rid of it or can I cut it way back?
A As broadleaf evergreen shrubs grow older, they can outgrow their space, get tall and leggy, or just need rejuvenation. In the South, rhododendrons, azaleas, mountain laurels, and hollies are often pruned back anywhere from 1 to 4 feet from the ground to renew them.
Spreading out heavy cutback over three years, especially if below-freezing temperatures are common where you live, is usually better for the plant. Remove one-third of the biggest, oldest stems each year until you’ve renewed the whole plant. Do heavy pruning of this type in late winter or very early spring.
Q Should I deadhead my rhododendrons?
A Remove fading flower trusses of rhododendrons immediately after they have bloomed so that the plants won’t waste their energy setting seeds. This process is called deadheading.
Q What are some pruning tips for maintaining broad-leaf evergreens?
A Remember, broadleaf evergreens need little pruning. Just keep track of their size relative to their space and watch for dead, diseased, or damaged wood.
Shorten (head back) any branches that are too long in spring.
Cut off winter injury and broken branches anytime.
Go easy on picking flowers for bouquets from small plants during the first few years. Once they’re mature, you can safely cut flowers from mature plants in moderate amounts with no damage to the plants.
Q I grow herbs among perennials and flowering shrubs in my garden beds. Do they need annual pruning?
A Most of the woody herbs, such as lavender (Lavandula spp.) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), need little pruning other than shaping and removing old or injured parts. The tall-growing ones, such as bay laurel (Laurus nobilis), benefit from an occasional cutting back to control size, especially when they are grown as houseplants.
You can also shear woody herbs into formal hedges or topiary forms. Pruning techniques such as pinching back, disbudding, and deadheading can improve the looks and life of your woody herbs.
Q When should I prune shrubby herbs?
A A good time to prune is early spring, just as new growth begins. Save the trimmings for drying or for starting new plants. Before buying shrubby herbs for your garden, make sure they can survive in your area. Even where the plants are hardy, severe winters may cause dieback of stems or whole plants.