When spring arrives and the weather finally warms up after the long, grey winter, gardeners are understandably itching to get back to their plants. After waiting out that last spring frost, gardeners may be eager to get their hands in the dirt and spruce up their garden after winter’s big chill. So go ahead and start putting out your annuals and vegetables, transplanting trees and shrubs, and doing your spring garden chores. One thing spring gardeners should be a little cautious about, though, is picking up their pruning shears.
While some trees and shrubs can handle a little trim, many cannot this time of year. Plants come to life in the spring, readying to bloom, grow, and fill gardens with color. Pruning them just as they are ready to start can slow growth, cause damage, or cost them their flower buds entirely. That is particularly true if it is a plant that blooms early in spring. For those plants, just trim off the dead or damaged wood and leave the flower buds alone. Plus, pruning trees in spring can leave them more vulnerable to insect infestation and diseases. Waiting until late summer, fall, or even winter to prune can save your plants and save yourself a headache. Here are a few plants you should not prune in spring.
Lilacs
It’s risky to prune these early bloomers because you’ll most likely be cutting off buds, resulting in fewer flowers. Instead, prune your lilacs and other early blooms as soon as they finish flowering in early summer.
Forsythia
Like with other early-flowering shrubs, pruning too early can cost you blooms. Just look for dead or damaged branches to lop off, but leave those tender branches alone.
Rhododendron
The best time to prune these popular bushes is late spring, immediately after they finish blooming.
Azalea
Don’t trim these in spring, but instead opt for later in the growing season or during winter. Otherwise, you’ll risk lopping off flower buds and decrease the amount of spring blooms.
Honeysuckle
While these beautiful bushes can get, well, extra bushy in spring, it’s best to refrain from trimming until after they bloom.
Clematis
These beauties should be pruned in mid-spring as soon as the flowers are past their prime. Any earlier means missing out on their gorgeous floral display. Same goes for mock orange, flowering quince, and deutzia.
Birch Trees
While you can do a little trimming in spring, birch trees are particularly sappy and if pruned early, can «weep» that sticky sap all over the place.
Maple Trees
Maple trees are just as sappy as birch trees, so pruning them when the sap is running can be a messy situation.
Elm Trees
Pruning trees in spring can make them more vulnerable to insect infestation and diseases and, for elm trees, that means potentially increasing the chances of Dutch elm disease.
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