The document provides guidance on pruning various types of permanent plants including shrubs, subshrubs, vines, and conifers. It discusses removing dead or damaged wood from shrubs to maintain their shape. For subshrubs, it recommends pruning them after flowering and before new growth to shape them. Vines are discussed in terms of their climbing habit and how to train them on structures to encourage branching. Conifers are separated into those with needle-like leaves and scale-like foliage, with different pruning techniques for each. The document stresses not pruning into older, un-needled parts of plants.

1. Pruning permanent framework
Generally assume regular shape
Ceanothus „Julia Phelps‟ Pieris „White Cascade‟

2. Many of these plants form a dome-shaped canopy

3.  Remove:
• dead
• damaged
Cistus „Silver Pink‟

4. Lavender
Lavandula spp.

5. Removal of errant shoots help shape

8. “Cubist” pruning is common…

10. Or, the meatball variation…

11. Think about flowering time before pruning!

13. Pittosporum tenuifolium
„Silver Sheen‟

14. Shearing removes form, but hopefully not flowers…
Arbutus unedo (Strawberry tree)

15. Pruning subshrubs
 have woody base, but bloom
on current season‟s shoots
 some become larger and more
woody in mild climates
 avoid pruning until after
risk of severe freeze
Buddleia nivea

16. Small subshrubs which may be sheared:
Epilobium canum
Penstemon pinifolius

17. Remove most shoot growth to base
August 2010
January 2011

18. Before…
After…

19. Larger subshrubs…
Caryopteris x clandonensis
Perovskia atriplicifolia

20. Spiraea

21. Large subshrubs
Buddleia „Pink Delight‟ Heptacodium miconioides

22.  Remove dead stems, prune hard in spring
Lavatera: early spring 10 minutes work!

23. Note where cuts made…
Look how much growth is removed!

24. Later…

25. Heptacodium miconioides

26. Suckering shrubs
Naturally thicket-forming plants
 Includes:
• Aralia spp.
• Clerodendrum spp.
• Kerria japonica
• Rhus spp.
• Rubus spp.
• Symphoricarpos spp.
• Syringa vulgaris
• Zenobia pulverulenta
 Dig suckers
Rhus typhina „Laciniata‟  Use barriers

27. Pruning Conifers
For pruning purposes, there are two types:
Needle-like leaves Scale-like foliage
Whorled branches Random branches

28. Needle-foliage Conifers: Pine Family
Abies: The Firs
Cedrus: True Cedars
Picea: The Spruces
Pinus: The Pines
Pseudotsuga: Douglasfir
Tsuga: The Hemlocks

29. When sited correctly, rarely need pruning
Abies pinsapo „Glauca‟ Pinus thunbergii „Thunderhead‟

30. The biggest mistake: pruning into un-needled growth

31. Pine Family
To dwarf plant and fill in
canopy, pinch back new
growth at “candle” stage
Do not cut into old, un-needled parts of stem!

33. Candles on pines are easily broken at this stage

34. Candle pruning makes a conifer…
 dwarfer
 bushier

35. Some conifers revert as well…
Alberta spruce

36. Scale-foliage Conifers: Cypress Family
Calocedrus
 Incense Cedar
Chamecyparis
 Hinoki Cypress
Cupressus
 Monterey, Italian Cypress
X Cupressocyparis leylandii
 Leyland Cypress
Juniperus
 many, many species/forms
Thuja
 Arborvitae, Western Redcedar

37. Cypress family plants respond well to
light trimming and make good hedges
Don‟t prune into
older un-needled
parts of plant!

38. Effects of hard pruning:
Cutting back hedge
Limbing up too-big shrub

41. Conifers that respond to cutting to older wood:
Taxus: Yews
Sequoia: Redwood
Cryptomeria:
Japanese cedar

42. Pruning Vines

43. Pruning need depends on vigor, climbing habit…
Wisteria Jasminum x stephanense
 rampant growing  many thin canes
 permanent framework  cane-grower

44. Consider the climbing habit of the plant:
Non-clinging plants: Roses

45. Twining growth habit:
Clematis Jasminum
Humulus Trachelospermum
Lonicera Wisteria
Tendrils:
Ampelopsis
Passiflora
Vitis

46. Clinging vines
Campsis (aerial rootlets)
 (will also sucker)
Hydrangea anomala (aerial rootlets)
Hedera (aerial rootlets)
Parthenocissus (tendrils)
Schizophragma (aerial rootlets)
Little or no pruning required

47. The support structure and vine must match!

48. Climbing roses

49. A trellis can be very simple…

50. Old trees make a good
makeshift trellis, too

51. Climbers-modern:
 very tall bush roses, repeat
 renew framework regularly
Rambling Roses
 annual cane production
 train stems flat
 remove flowered stems
 thin/shorten excess canes

52. Climbing roses
Spreading out stems horizontally encourages branching

53. Climbing Rose:
„Westerland‟
Modern Climber
i.e. blooms on new wood

54. Early spring…

55. Later…

56. Rambling Rose
„Dorothy Perkins‟
Once-blooming
June 2004

57. Sept. 2004
July 2005

58. July 2006

60. For a full arbor you
will need to plant on
both sides

62. Twining vines
Clematis armandii

63. As with other vines,
match the vine with
available space

64. Over time, many twining climbers form a “mushroom”
Jasminum x stephanense

65. Or, the shape of a TV antenna…

66. Young vines: shoot placement

67. Lonicera japonica
In bloom, June
After pruning

68. Pruning vining Clematis
For pruning purposes, 3 “groups”
based on flowering time:
Spring: (Group 1)
C. armandii, C. montana
Repeat bloom: (Group 2)
Large-flowered hybrids
C. „Nelly Moser‟
Summer-Fall: (Group 3)
C. x jackmanii, C. texensis
C. paniculata, C. viticella

69. A simple trellis…

71. Pruning Clematis-Group 1 and 2

72. Pruning vines: Clematis Group 2 (and 1)
 Remove weak growths
Thin stems to well—spaced framework

73. Pruning Clematis-Group 3

74. Pruning Clematis Group 3
 Prune low to a pair of
strong buds early spring
 Remove dead stems

75. Training Wisteria

76. Trees make handy trellises…

78. Brickell and Joyce
DK Publishing, 1996
ISBN 1-56458-331-7

79. Brown and Kirkham
Timber Press, 2004
ISBN 0-88192-613-2

80. Cass Turnbull
Sasquatch Books
ISBN 1570613168

81. Other references:
PlantAmnesty
http://www.plantamnesty.org/
 Pruning tips
PNW-International Society of Arboriculture
http://www.pnwisa.org/
 Pruning information
 Publications
 Lists of Consulting Arborists

83. The End!
Ceanothus griseus „Kurt Zadnik‟