How To Prune A Shrub

Today, I'm going to show you how to prune a shrub. When you prune your shrubs, always make sure you've got the right torse. You'll need a nice pair of secateurs, a pair of loppers and a pruning saw.

There are two main types of shrubs; we have the seditious shrubs which means that they drop their leaves every winter. This one here is a mocha philadelphius. Now, in the winter, this won't have any leaves on it at all.

And over here, we have a pyracantha which is evergreen, which means that it retains its leaves all year round. Pruning evergreen shrubs is easy. After they finish flowering, you simply remove any wayward shoots that spoil the shape.

So, with this one, if we want a nice dome shape, we just cut off the shoots that are spoiling the shape. With the seditious shrubs, they are a bit more tricky. The best thing to do is just to prune them after they finish flowering.

This mock orange, for example, has two different types of shoots. This shoot here has no flowers on it. That means it's going to flower next year.

This shoot here has spent flowers on it that have just finished, can you see them here? Therefore, this shoot won't flower again. Therefore, we prune that and cut it out and when we prune it, we cut it back to where we find new shoots. So I've cut it back to these two new shoots that will flower next year.

If pruning shrubs is difficult for you, there are three garden rules that you can follow to make life a bit easier. Remove any dead, diseased or dying stems completely, only prune when the flowering is finished and only prune off shoots that have spent flowers on. Those that are done, like this one here, will flower next year.

So, that's how you prune shrubs. .