A ruthless but necessary lilac pruning job

Would you do this to your favorite lilacs? We did - and we did the deed in mid-July, about a month past the ideal time to prune. The shrubs in question are five Meyer lilacs (Syringa meyeri 'Palibin').

Why? The pictures here illustrate the problem - the shrubs had walled us off from a lovely view of the garden.

Meyer lilacs are supposed to be compact, and I suppose for lilacs they are, but they were easily reaching 6 feet. (Obviously, they hadn't read the nursery catalogue which stated that their mature height tops out around 4 or 5 feet.) Actually, woody plant expert, Michael Dirr, the author of my favorite tree and shrub bible, the Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, says they grow 4 to 8 feet tall. I didn't prune them, and so they were headed for 8 feet. Clearly, they were overgrown.

The lilacs and the view four-and-a-half weeks later

The solution: off with their heads. Will the shrubs flower next year? Probably not because we pruned them so radically in mid-July, and they form next year's flower buds shortly after blooming. But I've seen spotty repeat blooming in late summer, so you never know.

The reason for our late pruning is that I changed my plan of attack. I was actually planning to rip the lilacs out and replace them with peonies and boxwood shrubs, both of which are lower growing. But that would have been a lot more work, and we would have missed their lovely scent in spring.

So when master pruner Bob May was here working on the boxwood hedge, I asked his opinion and he suggested cutting them back radically. "They'll be fine," he assured me. "You're a couple of weeks late to prune, but they've got enough time to grow leaves and recover."

Four and a half weeks later - nicely leafed out

The lilacs have grown new leaves and they look like they are recovering well - and we have our garden view back. Thanks, Bob, for suggesting this solution. I have more of these lilacs in other parts of the garden, and I'm going to be more diligent about pruning them to stay more compact.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Every gardener needs this pruning guide

If you have shrubs in your yard, you need to know something about pruning.

My favorite pruning book is Cass Turnbull's Guide to Pruning: What, When, and Where and How to Prune for a More Beautiful Garden.

I've been a fan of Turnbull's ever since I read in Horticulture magazine that she had started Plant Amnesty, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization devoted to educating gardeners how to avoid the senseless mutilation of trees and shrubs.

Turnbull has been teaching correct pruning practices for more than 20 years. She writes well, and just plain knows her stuff. Her book shows you all the how-to with clearly written and illustrated instructions.

Nothing about pruning is obvious, Turnbull explains; in fact, most of it is downright counterintuitive. For example, gardeners prune to try to control growth, but mostly they end up promoting more of the kind of growth they don't want.

Although this pruning guide is published by an American regional publisher based in the Pacific Northwest, most of the plants discussed are found in gardens and backyards throughout the US and Canada.

So if you're looking for a readable book about real-world pruning, this one is humorously written and reasonably priced: Highly recommended! Available at Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Read this before you prune that Forsythia

Photo credit: by Arielle (via Flickr)

Forsythia shrubs are enormously popular for their cheerful early spring flowers. If you have this shrub and are confused about how to prune it, you're not alone. This is one of the most mal-treated shrubs around.

The reason – it's a shrub that gets big, but it's usually planted in a spot that's too small. The result: you shear it or whack it back and hope that will make it smaller. But nature has the last word. (Doesn't she always?) Pruning stimulates more growth, and plants grow to a height and width that's genetically programmed. For forsythia shrubs, that's 7 to 10 feet tall and wide.

So what do people do to forsythias that are shoehorned into just 4 or 5 feet of ground? They prune them into unsightly balls, squares or hamburger buns, when in fact this shrub's growth habit is naturally arching and vase-shaped.

For better-looking forsythia shrubs, here's how and when to prune the right way.

© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Plant sculpture: experts at work

Our boxwood hedge with a section trimmed
On our 10 acres this summer, I'm taking care of all the maintenance myself with one main helper. It's a full-time job, actually. (In the spring we have three helpers because cutting down the ornamental grasses, cleaning-up from the winter, and moving or dividing plants is just too much to do ourselves.)

I have a couple of exceptions to the D-I-Y regime: one is pruning big trees, which a professional tree service does for us, and the other is pruning the boxwood hedge around my four-square garden.

Bob May: pruner extraordinaire
The master at that job is Bob May, a former gardener at Royal Botanical Gardens, who now runs his own business, which he calls the "Plant Sculptor". He's in such demand that although I called him in early June, he and his crew weren't able to get here until yesterday. He's so busy he can't take on any new clients so I'm glad I got in on the ground floor several years ago.

The key to precision is a string line and sharp shears
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener