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Shrubs

Shrubs for Fall Planting: Choose Formal or Informal!

October 25, 2021

Fall is a great time to plant shrubs, and there are so many choices! One way to narrow your selection and save yourself some frustration in future years is to picture where you want to plant your new shrubs and how you want them to look.

Roles for shrubs
Shrubs can play many roles in your landscape. These include:

  • Foundation plantings
  • Screens for privacy—or to block a view
  • Hedges to define areas within your property or to define property boundaries
  • Serve as a woody groundcover
  • Source of fall color, flowers, and/or fruit
Formal foundation planting with conifers
Informal hydrangea hedge
Shrubs serving as a woody groundcover on a slope
Beautyberry with fall color and fruit
Formal planting of evergreens

Considerations
Once you’ve decided where you want to plant shrubs and for what purpose, consider how they’ll look before you choose. As you think about landscapes you admire, you’ll likely notice how formal or informal they look. Shrubs are often a good indicator of formality.

  • In formal landscapes symmetry and geometric shapes are the rule—shrubs are typically pruned to have clean lines, whether rounded or angular.
  • In informal landscapes, shrub forms are left to more natural shapes.
Improper pruning decreases the number of flower buds

This may seem an unusual first step in choosing a shrub, but the desired appearance of your shrub may affect several aspects of your choice:

  • If your shrub is evergreen or deciduous—most shrubs that take to shearing are evergreen rather than deciduous
  • If your shrub flowers or fruits you will typically want a less formal shape because shearing may remove flower buds—and prevent the flowers and/or fruit that follow—one exception is if you espalier fruit trees to shrub-size plantings (see “Specialty pruning” section in General Pruning link below)
  • The distance you plant your shrubs from structures or other plantings—shearing will limit height and perhaps width of your shrub, depending on if your shrub is planted as a specimen or in a hedge.
Many holly species can be pruned to formal shapes


Choices!
For formal shrubs, think typically evergreen and smaller-leaved. Many dwarf and smaller conifers will grow into pleasing shapes and stay small with little pruning. Although boxwoods are the classic selection for shearing, the devastating appearance of boxwood blight makes this a riskier choice. Some of the evergreen hollies (Ilex spp.) are suitable replacements:

  • Inkberry hollies (Ilex glabra) are native to NC, slow-growing, and tend to grow in a rounded shape that requires little pruning. There are dwarf varieties that grow only to 3 feet tall, and the species typically tops out at 5 to 8 feet.
  • Yaupon hollies ( I . vomitoria) are also NC natives, suitable for shearing, but faster growing, larger, and less hardy—only to USDA hardiness Zone 7a, so not suitable for colder parts of Buncombe County.

Note that Japanese hollies (I. crenata), which tolerate extensive pruning and are often used for topiaries, is an invasive plant and has been reported along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Buncombe County.

For informal landscapes, both evergreen and deciduous shrubs can provide a variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and seasons of interest. In addition to many varieties of hydrangeas and viburnums—some of which are evergreen—there are many lesser-known shrubs that are excellent choices for WNC landscapes. A few that are also native include:

  • American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) has arching branches, is 3 to 8 feet tall and 3 to 6 feet wide. Small flowers attract pollinators in late spring/early summer and distinctive purple berries and yellow foliage make this shrub a stand-out in fall. Some varieties have white or pink berries; all beautyberries are attractive to birds.
  • Carolina allspice/Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus) forms rounded shrubs 6 to 12 feet tall and wide with fragrant, showy red flowers in spring are visited by pollinators. Unusual seedpods form in fall.
  • Red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) is typically vase-shaped, 6 to 10 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide. It has four-season interest, with white flowers in spring that attract pollinators, shiny green leaves in summer, attractive red fall foliage and red berries that feed birds and mammals, and exfoliating bark during the winter.
    Sweetshrub flowers in early summer
    Red chokeberry has beautiful fall foliage and berries

Planting
Now is the time to plant! Autumn planting encourages strong root growth—cooler temperatures and fall rains make for lower maintenance, too. Give your shrubs a great start by digging a planting hole that is only as deep as the root ball, but 2 to 3 times as wide. Backfill with existing soil rather than other materials. Mulch lightly, keeping the mulch away from the stems, and keep well-watered throughout the winter months. Enjoy!

Article by Debbie Green, Buncombe County Extension Master GardenerSMVolunteer

 

For more information:

Planting and caring for shrubs: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook/11-woody-ornamentals

Pruning trees and shrubs: https://chatham.ces.ncsu.edu/2015/02/pruning-trees-and-shrubs-2/

General pruning: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/general-pruning-techniques

Landscape design: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook/19-landscape-design

 

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Categories General Gardening, Shrubs Tags fall garden chores, garden planning, landscape planning, shrubs

Time to Maintain: How to Prune Summer-Flowering Shrubs

September 3, 2018

“No, I don’t think you killed your beautyberry,” I replied to a visitor to the Extension Master GardenerSM office concerned that their pruning efforts had irreparably damaged a favorite shrub. One of a Master Gardener volunteer’s most interesting challenges is reassuring people that nature is very resilient! This is particularly true when it comes to pruning, which many home gardeners look upon with a sense of dread. I reassure them that the worst that can happen is severely diminished flower production for next season—but there are no overall adverse effects on long-term plant health!

Beautyberry 'Issai'_K M_CC BY 2.0_Flickr
Beautyberry

As with most things involving gardening, there is an exception to this fact, which is to avoid pruning shrubs from mid-August until leaf fall. Late season pruning may encourage a flush of tender new growth that the onset of winter weather may kill back because it hasn’t had enough time to harden off. 

Summer-flowering shrubs
Glossy Abelia (Abelia grandiflora), summersweet (Clethra alnifolia), crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica), rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus), old-fashioned Weigela (Weigela florida), American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus), and Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) bloom on new wood.  Botanically, these shrubs bloom on buds that develop on the growth that occurs in the spring of the current year. These species should be pruned in late winter or early spring (late March to early May) to promote vigorous growth early in the summer.

Clethra alnifolia 'Ruby Spice'_saiberiac_CC BY 2.0_Flickr
Clethra
Weigela_Jani3_CC BY 2.0_Flickr
Weigela
Virginia sweetspire_Joy Weese Moll_CC BY-NC 2.0_Flickr
Virginia sweetspire

NOTE: We’ll discuss pruning hydrangeas in a future blog post. So, stay tuned!

What and when to prune
Does this mean you should put away your pruners now if you have summer-blooming shrubs? No, you can always remove damaged, dead, diseased, or double-crossed limbs (the “Four Ds”).  You can also remove spent flower heads, but this is done for cosmetic purposes—remove only the flower head, not any other part of the plant! 

Pruning techniques
When the time is right for pruning your summer-flowering shrubs, there are different approaches.

Rejuvenation is a drastic technique that works well on multi-stemmed, twiggy shrubs, and is typically done only every 3 to 5 years. It involves pruning all the stems back to about six inches above the ground. 

Selective pruning involves removing specific branches and limbs to improve the overall appearance of the shrub, shape the plant for landscape use, and reduce the overall height of the plant. Do not remove more than one-third of a plant’s growth in any one year except when you do rejuvenation pruning on a set schedule.

Rose of Sharon_Hibiscus syriacus_Jim-the-Photographer_CC BY 2.0
Rose of Sharon
Rose of Sharon_improper pruning_by DGreen_BCEMGV
Improper pruning

Don’t shear! Reserve shearing with electric or manual hedge trimmers for broadleaf evergreens—it is not appropriate for deciduous shrubs! 

Abelia hedge_by BLeonard_BCEMGV
Abelia hedge
Abelia grandiflora_sheared_by DGreen_BCEMGV
Improperly sheared Abelia
Crape myrtle_improper pruning_CC BY 2.0_Flickr
Improperly pruned crape myrtle

Avoid “crape murder.” The drastic pruning of crape myrtles, commonly called “crape murder,” involves the wholesale reduction of the shrub’s height. This is equivalent to tree topping, which should not be undertaken under any circumstances! The result of such pruning is weakened structure and a reduction in vigor.

Article written by Bob Wardwell, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.

More information
Pruning Trees & Shrubs: General Pruning Techniques
by Barbara Fair, Lucy Bradley, Anthony LeBude
Department of  Horticultural Science, NC State University

Time to Maintain: Winter Pruning of Crape Myrtle Trees
by Beth Leonard, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer

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Categories Seasonal Chores, Shrubs Tags abelia, beautyberry, clethra, crape myrtle, itea, pruning, pruning shrubs, rose of Sharon, sweetspire, weigela

Time to Maintain: Pruning Spring-Blooming Shrubs

May 26, 2018

I answered the Garden Helpline in the Extension Master Gardener office recently and spoke to a very upset individual: “Why on earth, after all my hard work and attention, did my beautiful lilacs (Syringa vulgaris) not bloom this year?” I asked about growing conditions—full sun is needed for bloom—and watering and fertilizing, receiving all the correct answers. Then we talked about pruning: “It looked very scraggly and overgrown and I wanted to make it look nice for the spring, so I pruned it in February.” There was the answer to the question!

Lilac_Syringa vulgaris_F D Richards_CC BY-SA 2.0_Flickr
Lilac in bloom

Pruning time matters
Timing is critical, especially when pruning spring-blooming shrubs that develop their flower buds during the summer and fall of the previous year. This is often called “blooming on old wood.”

Plants, such as flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa), forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia), oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), azaleas and rhododendrons (Rhododendron spp.,), doublefile viburnum (Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum), as well as lilac, are in this category.

While June 15 is often mentioned as a cut-off date for flowering time for “spring-blooming shrubs,” we gardeners know that Mother Nature does not always adhere to clear-cut time frames. What’s important is to correctly identify the plants and prune these shrubs soon after flowering. Pruning these shrubs in late summer, fall, or early spring will remove the flower buds—so pruning your lilac in February will remove the flower buds set last year!

Pruning soon after flowering means pruning no more than six weeks after this years’ blooms die. So even if your work or vacation time prevents you from getting to the task immediately, you still have time to prune and not adversely affect next years’ blooms. 

How to prune
The object of pruning is to open up the top of the plant to permit light and air to reach the interior. It can promote new plant growth, maintain plant size, encourage flowering, remove diseased or dead limbs, and help control insect and disease problems.

When thinking about pruning, consider the “one-third” rules: remove about one-third of the oldest wood at the ground level and cut back one-third of the younger, newer canes about one-third of their height per season.

The two basic types of pruning cuts are heading cuts and thinning cuts. Heading cuts remove part of the branch back to a bud. The direction in which the top remaining bud is pointed will determine the direction of the new growth. Selective heading cuts reduce the shrub’s height and retain its natural form.

Thinning cuts remove an entire limb to where it originates—in the case of shrubs, this could be at ground level. Thinning cuts remove the thickest, oldest stems with the fewest flowers. This opens up the canopy and increases light penetration and air circulation. To rejuvenate overgrown specimens with a suckering growth habit, such as forsythia and lilac, periodically removing the biggest, oldest stems at ground level allows new stems to replace the older ones.

Pruning woody ornamental shrubs_heading cuts_NCSU Extension
Heading cuts: A) shrub shoots headed back to same height; B) shrub shoots headed back to different heights.
Pruning woody ornamental shrubs_thinning cuts_by NCSU Extension
Thinning cuts: Shrub branches removed at their point of origin.

An exception
If you have overgrown or unsightly spring-flowering shrubs, you may need to sacrifice one year’s bloom to get your garden looking good again. Renewal pruning is called for if you need to start over! In this case, prune the entire shrub back to 6 to 12 inches before your shrubs leaf out in the spring—either in late fall or early winter. Prune new growth lightly during the summer to get your shrub into shape for the future!

Article written by Bob Wardwell, Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteer.

More information:
Pruning Flowering Shrubs
by Elaine Fogerty, Agricultural Assistant
Rutgers Cooperative Extension
(Diagrams show different types of pruning cuts.)

Pruning Flowering Shrubs
Penn State Extension

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Categories Seasonal Chores, Shrubs Tags flowering shrubs, pruning, pruning shrubs

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