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Five plant types to prune in summer

Five plant types to prune in summer

BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Published: Wednesday, 20 March 2019 at 10:29 am

We reveal plant types you should prune in summer to improve their appearance, flowering and fruiting.

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Often overlooked, pruning plants in summer is just as important as cutting plants back when they're dormant during the winter months.

Discover eight reasons to prune in summer.

By pruning in summer, you can reap the rewards of better displays from ornamental plants. You'll also encourage bigger crops from fruit trees and bushes. Removing new summer growth before it turns woody reduces growth-promoting nitrogen, allowing potassium to build up. More potassium means more flowers and fruit.

Discover five plant types to prune in summer, including shrubs and climbers, below.

Spring-flowering climbers

Climbers such as wisteria and jasmine need to be summer pruned to keep their growth under control. Winter-prune and summer-prune wisteria to ensure a good display of flowers.

Summer-pruning wisteria

Rambling roses

Rambling roses usually flower once in June, whereas climbers will repeat flower all summer. Pruning ramblers in late summer will help plants to flower well and avoid a tangled mess.

Rambling rose 'Kiftsgate'

Hedges

Most hedging plants can be pruned annually between June and September, apart from yew, which can be left until the autumn. Some need to be pruned more than once. If summer-trimming hedges, here are the tools you should use.

Pruning box

Early summer-flowering shrubs

Shrubs such as lilac and philadelphus are best pruned after flowering. This helps control their size and promote better flowering. Here are more spring-flowering shrubs to prune after blooming.

Pruning philadelphus

Evergreens

All evergreens are slightly tender and should not be pruned too early in the year, as stems will be vulnerable to frost damage. Early summer is the ideal time to tackle shrubs such as camellia and ceanothus.

Camellia sasanqua

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