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From: mangoe@umcp-cs
Newsgroups: net.garden
Subject: Re: Advice on Pruning Shrubs
Message-ID: <1082@umcp-cs>
Date: Thu, 24-Apr-86 08:06:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.1082
Posted: Thu Apr 24 08:06:00 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 14-May-86 06:21:51 EDT
References: <1739@mtgzy>
Lines: 35

In article <1739@mtgzy.UUCP> seb@mtgzy.UUCP (s.e.badian) writes:
>My problem
>is that most of the shrubs and roses have been pruned horribly, and
>I'm not sure how to proceed. Should I prune them like I would a well-
>formed shrub, just thinning and cutting out the dead wood? Or should
>I get the ax? Or should I let them grow out some and then attack them
>with the pruning shears? (If you're curious, the shrubs all look like
>vases, even the poor forsythias, even a dogwood tree! Horrors! They
>all look just like the "don't" diagrams in the gardening books.)

Actually, that last is a very important piece of data, because different
species are going to need different treatment.

The roses can probably be pruned normally.  Same with the forsythia, except
that thinning the thing might help.

If you have any japanese holly, get the shovel.  These things are massively
monolayered, and eventually any pruning is going to thin them to the point
where the frost will take them out.  It'll be easier to start over with
something else.  Chinese and american holly can take more radical pruning,
so you can try to reshape them.  One thing you  might try with them (and
with the dogwood too) is studying up on Bonsai techniques and forms and then
pruning them as if they were giant bonsai.

The conifers are going to be the worst problem.  THey'll all have holes
where they abut each other, and they don't send out shoots from old wood.
You therefore have to be really careful about thinning them (whereas with
the deciduous plants it's less of a crisis).  Probably letting them grow out
(with a little judicious pruning) is the best course.

Azaleas will take care of themselves fine.

Good luck!

C. Wingate