“Plants to Avoid Pruning in Spring for Healthy and Abundant Flowering: Expert Advice”

Not all plants can be pruned in the spring if you don’t want to ruin their flowering.

Spring is a fantastic time to prune many garden plants. Many, but not all! In the midst of spring, many enthusiastic gardeners take up secateurs, but it is important to remember that pruning now can damage some plants, it can negatively affect their growth and lead to a lack of flowering.

The horticultural expert told Express.co.ukwhich plants can not be cut in the spring.

Hydrangea macrophylla

For most hydrangeas, late winter and early spring are the best times to prune and remove old seed heads. This is due to the fact that withered flowers provide protection for the shrub from frost.

However, gardeners do not recommend cutting this plant in the spring due to the fact that at this time new flower shoots grow in it, the bush forms flower buds on last year’s shoots.

Spring pruning will result in fewer, rarer, or even non-existent blooms. Ideally, gardeners should prune bushes immediately after flowering, before the first frost, so that their plants have time to form new shoots for abundant flowering next spring. And even at this time, be careful when pruning branches to avoid over-pruning – too much pruning can also affect future flowering.

Lilac

As with previously mentioned hydrangea species, the reason lilacs should not be pruned in the spring is because gardeners are more likely to cut the buds, resulting in fewer flowers.

To get the most lush flowering and not damage the emerging buds, you need to cut the lilac as the flowering ends, removing all dried, blackened, deformed, broken shoots.

The best time to prune lilacs is from June to early July, as pruning in late summer or fall can reduce flowering next year.

Pruning lilac bushes is important for their health and flowering. Lilacs tend to be quite hardy, and if properly pruned, they will be stronger than ever.

birches

Spring pruning of birch trees is not recommended, as they have active sap flow in the trunk even before bud break. Formative pruning should be carried out in early to mid-summer to give the tree a neater appearance, as well as to stimulate the growth of lateral shoots.

Sanitary pruning is best done from October to February, when the plant is dormant. During this period, gardeners need to ensure that the temperature is not lower than -5C.

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