10 Plants You Should Never Prune in Fall
There’s nothing more dangerous to a poor shrub or tree than a bored husband with pruners in hand. Photo by Steve Bender.
We’re nearing the holidays and that means your doofus husband will be looking to work off excess turkey-and-stuffing pounds by hacking back some innocent tree or shrub. Which ones are OK to hack? More importantly, for which ones should you threaten his most valued appendage if he so much as touches them? Grumpy has the answers.
Bloom Time Is the Key
Many of the commonly butchered shrubs and trees bloom in spring. This means that they’ve already formed their flower buds. So if Doofus goes nuts with the loppers and wails away on a spring-bloomer this weekend, he’ll cut off the flower buds and you won’t get any spring blooms. Therefore, DO NOT LET HIM CHOP ON THE FOLLOWING:
- Azalea
- Flowering cherry, peach, plum, pear, crabapple
- Forsythia
- Lilac
- Loropetalum
- Oakleaf hydrangea
- Rhododendron
- Saucer or star magnolia
- Spirea
- Viburnum
Plants that are OK to prune now are those that make their flower buds on new growth next year. They include:
- Angel’s trumpet
- ‘Annabelle’, ‘Limelight’, and PG hydrangea
- Butterfly bush
- Cape plumbago
- Chaste tree
- Crepe myrtle*
- Gardenia
- Goldenrain tree
- Hibiscus
- ‘Knockout’ and most shrub roses
- Pomegranate
* Extreme pruning of crepe myrtle called “crepe murder” will not and cannot be tolerated by Grumpy. To see how to correctly prune this iconic plant, read “Crepe Myrtle Pruning Step-By-Step.”
Does this list to prune include the northern states such as NJ?
I forgot to ask. I pruned my butte fly bush last year, but it still got way too big and out of control. How far back can I prune it and the Lime light?
From year to year I always forget which shrubs get pruned during which season. This is very helpful. Going to save this article. Thanks for the info.
Very Nice post…as for Zone 4-5 Marie prune away….in our area Hydrangeas as well as Spirea and Viburnum can take a harsh pruning in the Fall and still give you lots of Blossom in their season. Remember NO Chainsaw Grumpy Gardener.
BUT if you forgot to give them a Summer Trim and they are sneaking into the windows of your home and you lay awake at night fearing that your shrubs are taking up arms against you then by all means TRIM….I am the Rebel Gardener and trim when I have time…But sacrifice you must if you do so….Don’t Forget to Garden Wise
Arlena Schott
Awesome article!!!
I would add to the NO list the following:
flowering quince, flowering dogwood (but the shrubby red twig dogwoods are ok), 99% of the spring bloomers
A good rule of thumb is any blooming plants that you can actually SEE the buds on right now should give you pause.
Hey, Grump, you were reading my mind. I’m taking my clippers and heading outdoors today in our 70 degree weather! It feels like SC!
Speaking of crepe myrtles has anyone out there gotten a new myrtle that has black leaves?
My sister said they are in the nurseries in the Dallas area..I already have 30 of different varieties and just wondering if this is special enough to consider
I see knockout roses on the list of those okay to prune now. In Zone 8B, how much can I prune them now – a light or heavy pruning? Folks around here tell me to prune them heavily in February, by Valentine’s Day…I’m new to this zone, so help is appreciated, for sure!
Thank you for this list! I myself can use it, not just my husband, lol.
Too late.
Vickie, I did see the black myrtle a couple of weeks ago here in South Louisiana. It was very interesting but I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to really check it out.
Amy & Vickie.
You were probably looking at a new dark-foliage one called ‘Black Diamond.’ Expect to see more of these.
My crepe myrtle is oozing white sap which has never happened before in 12 years. What is the cause? Also my cat keeps licking this stuff!
Carol,
I have never seen this before. Where is the sap coming from? A hole in the trunk?
The tree is about 25 feet tall and the sap is running down each of about five large trunks. The sap is white in color.
Carol,
It sounds like you may have borers in the tree. The fact the sap is white may indicate that bacteria is feeding on it. To kill the borers, you’ll have to use a systemic insecticide, such as Bayer Advanced Tree & Shrub Insect Control, according to label directions. You can get this at most home and garden centers.
My husband pruned our crepe myrtle last fall.
The limbs he pruned didn’t get any new growth/flowers this year. Should those limbs be
completely cut back to the trunk or will they possibly get new growth in the future?
Thank you. I’ll give it a try.
Diane,
Any limbs that didn’t leaf out this year are dead. You might as well prune them back to the trunk. Try to stop him from cutting it so severely this year.
Great blog grumps! I just learned I have a little more work to do. When my neighbor just trimmed his Camellias in late summer, I wanted to cry. That’s what they made the Internet for, and, of course, your blog.
Scott,
Your are correct, sir.
[...] http://www.caes.uga.edu/publications/pubDetail.cfm?pk_id=6098#Time. Another helpful resource: the Grumpy Gardener’s list of 10 Plants You Should Never Prune in Fall (Azalea; Flowering cherry, peach, plum, pear, crabapple; Forsythia; Lilac; Loropetalum; Oakleaf [...]