When do you trim boxwoods
Tips on Pruning Boxwood — NewGen® Boxwood
Pruning is an essential part of plant upkeep and an excellent method of preventative maintenance for both young or more established plants. Most ornamental plants benefit from annual pruning, and boxwood are no exception. There are many benefits both for the overall look and health of the plant, making it important to establish a pruning schedule for boxwood in any landscape.
One of the most common reasons to prune is to shape up boxwood and provide a cleaner more defined appearance. Boxwood are characterized by the structure they provide to gardens, and pruning helps to maintain a clean shape. Early spring, before boxwood begin to flush, is the best time of year to prune. Any old winter color, or tips that have been burned over the winter season, can be trimmed away and will disappear after the spring flush.
Not only is it important to prune, but proper pruning techniques are crucial to long-term success with boxwood and may differ slightly with each cultivar. It is important to choose the correct cultivar to avoid the need for excessive pruning. Before and during annual pruning, proper sanitation of necessary tools is important. Any tools should be properly cleaned with alcohol, bleach, Lysol® or some other disinfecting solution before and after working with boxwood to lessen the possibility of spreading disease.
As mentioned above, the best time to prune boxwood is in the late winter to early spring, before the plant breaks dormancy and begins flushing. This is typically late February to mid-March in central Virginia. Late winter/early spring pruning minimizes the time between pruning and new growth as well as stimulating a strong spring flush. Also, Boxwood Blight tends to be much less active in cold temperatures.
If you are looking for a more manicured look, some gardeners like to prune in late spring, after the spring flush to achieve a more formal shape. Mid-summer and early fall pruning stimulate late fall growth that may be burned by frost or early winter freezes.
Waiting until early winter might not be detrimental; however, it leaves pruning scars on the leaves until the spring flush is initiated.
Cultivars that are more dwarf or have very tight habits benefit from annual thinning to open up the inside of the plant. Thinning is typically done by reaching into the plant and breaking or cutting out branches with hand pruners. These branches can be 6-10 inches long on larger cultivars, or only a couple of inches on a dwarf cultivar. This will leave pockets or holes in the plant for air and sunlight penetration. Using hand pruners will result in a cleaner cut and lessens the possibilities of disease introduction. Any cultivars that are sheared regularly will benefit from thinning to lessen disease susceptibility.
Larger and more vigorous cultivars are generally tolerant to shearing or more radical pruning techniques. Use loppers or shears to drastically reduce overall plant size on vigorous plants, taking care to leave one-half to two-thirds of the foliage undisturbed.
This foliage will produce energy the plant needs to recover. The plant should develop new foliage along the bare stems. Full recovery may take several seasons. Plants that require more drastic pruning may need to be pruned over several years to reduce the overall size in steps and not jeopardize the plant’s health. To minimize radical pruning, do not select large cultivars for applications where small cultivars would be more suitable.
Establishing pruning as part of the overall maintenance of your boxwood encourages healthy growth on both young and more established plants. Whether it is to neaten the plants appearance, rejuvenate an overgrown shrub, or help maintain a healthy environment, annual pruning is a key part of your success with boxwood.
Pruning Boxwood Shrubs And The Best Time To Trim Boxwoods
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Boxwoods
By: Jackie Rhoades
Image by Mirrorimage-NL
Introduced to America in 1652, boxwood shrubs have been gracing gardens since colonial times.
Members of the genus Buxus include about thirty species and 160 cultivars, including Buxus sempervirens, the common American boxwood. The varieties are largely based on leaf size and growth which can range from one foot tall to twenty (.5-6 m.).
Boxwoods have fallen out of favor with some gardeners in recent years. They are the gardeners that remember trimming boxwood bushes into severe and often geometric shapes that have no place in the more casual gardens of today. They also remember how much time and effort it took to keep them in formal rigidity.
And that, my friends, is a shame.
Trimming Boxwood Bushes
Boxwood bushes have an undeserved reputation and should be a welcome addition to the modern landscape. When the right cultivar is chosen, they need very little pruning. Boxwood is easy to grow and thrives under many conditions that would defeat a less sturdy plant. Their compact evergreen leaves add texture and form to the garden when all else falls to winter’s sleep.
Used as a hedge, nothing provides a better screen against an unsightly view.
That said, these handy evergreens do need occasional pruning. Boxwood, like most shrubs, needs a cleaning out of dead or twisted branches that can be harmful to the bush. Even when chosen for a particular size or shape, an errant branch or twig may need trimming. Boxwood bushes simply don’t need much care when compared to other landscape shrubs.
How and When to Prune Boxwoods
As with all shrubs, you should be asking when the best time to trim boxwoods might be and when should you prune. Boxwoods can be trimmed at any time of year, but, for plant health, it’s best to avoid shearing in the late fall. The new growth that appears after trimming boxwood bushes may not have time to harden off before frost.
Shearing or trimming may be done with hand shears or with electric hedge clippers. It is the removal of all or most of the most recent growth. Plant age should be taken into account when deciding when to prune boxwoods.
Young plants actually benefit from frequent shearing. The best time to trim boxwoods to shape is during the first few years. This will encourage branching and new growth, which will result in denser growth and defined shape. But, don’t overdo it.
Excessive shearing can produce growth so dense on the outside of your shrub that it will prevent light from reaching the center of the bush and leave the inner branches bare.
Removal of larger branches or pruning boxwoods is used to remove diseased or dying branches or to refurbish plants that are past their prime. Beware! Severely pruning boxwoods can kill the shrub. It’s best to take such drastic measures in stages, over several years if necessary, to give your boxwood shrubs the best opportunity to survive.
One last note: if you don’t mind a little extra work, boxwood shrubs make excellent topiaries. Topiaries are living garden statuary and can be molded into any shape your imagination can envision. They can range from one to two feet (.
5 m.) high to ten feet (3 m.) high. Depending on the size and shape of your frame, you may need more than one plant to fill the form.
The best time to trim boxwoods used in topiaries is in the spring before new growth begins. Train smaller branches to conform to the structure and prune larger branches to prevent them from growing toward the outside of the form. As the seasons pass, your boxwood shrubs will take on the shape of the structure and you will have a unique conversation piece and interesting focal point for your garden.
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How to cut boxwood - advice from gardeners
Boxwood is a beautiful addition to the landscape. The shrub easily grows in different conditions. The evergreen leaves add texture and form in the garden, and in the winter when all other plants are dormant.
Like most ornamental shrubs, it needs periodic pruning to remove dead, twisted branches. Trimmed and shaped it retains its famous compact and dense appearance, otherwise it grows like a normal shrub.
How to cut boxwood correctly
It is important to consider the optimal time for cutting. Although this can be done at any time of the year, certain periods are chosen for plant health. Trim boxwood from May or June to keep growth under control, and from August to September, so that new shoots that appear after shearing the bush have time to harden before frost. It is desirable when the boxwood haircut is carried out on cloudy days. If this cannot be done, then when trimming, you should regularly spray the bush to prevent blanching of the leaves. Do not rush to do this immediately after planting, the plant should have time to take root.
The procedure is carried out with scissors or secateurs, removing the last shoots. When making a decision, take into account the age of the plant.
Young shrubs do benefit from frequent shearing. This promotes branching and new growth and results in greater density and a defined shape. But on the other hand, with a high density of shrubs from the outside, the sun's rays practically do not fall into the center and the inner branches remain bare.
When cutting a bush, narrow it from the bottom to the top. So all branches will receive sufficient sunlight. When removing dead or diseased branches, radical pruning should not be taken. These measures are good in stages, so as not to destroy the plant.
Treat the upper parts in the spring before new growth begins. Remove small branches to fit the structure and prune large branches to keep them from branching outward. After a few seasons, the shrub will take shape and become an interesting focal point for the garden. For the level, you can install poles on the sides and stretch a cord between them and from time to time check how smoothly the process is carried out.
Boxwood topiary
Using hand pruners for these tasks gives the plant a softer, less formal profile.
Hard surfaces are best cut with electric scissors. They allow you to work much faster and it is easier to maintain a geometric shape with them. It is important that the blades remain sharp so that the leaves are less damaged. During pruning, scissors or secateurs get stuck due to leaves. Therefore, it is good to have a bucket of water nearby, in which to periodically clean the tools.
How to trim boxwood curly? Boxwood is an ideal object for creating living sculptures. The bush can be made into any shape that the imagination allows.
Curly haircuts require special scissors, available in different sizes. It is carried out at the end of winter or early spring, when the plant comes out of dormancy and resumes growth. Of course, it will take some time for the plant to fully recover and in this case it is additionally fertilized.
Rectangular hemispheres made of cardboard will serve as templates for mowing bushes in the form of balls (if no special tools are available).
To keep the plant within the natural growth pattern, it is trimmed lightly, only long branches directed to an uncomfortable position. Be sure to remove dead branches, preventing the disease from spreading to other parts of the shrub.
Author: Tatyana Yampolskaya
All about cutting and trimming boxwood
The evergreen plant is characterized by rather slow growth. During the year, the growth of branches is 5-15 cm, but it depends on the climatic zone and the growing conditions of the shrub. Formative pruning of boxwood is recommended to be done in the third year after planting a seedling in the garden. The exception is border mini-cultivars, which can be cut in the year of planting. The event is preferably held in warm cloudy weather in the evening. A suitable tool for trimming leaves and non-lignified shoots is mechanical scissors. Thin last year's branches are well cut with secateurs, skeletal branches are cut with a brush cutter.
The active growth of the shrub is observed from April to September - this period is most favorable for cutting boxwood.
After each operation, the plant needs abundant watering and top dressing to provide the necessary nutrition to the leaves. Agronomists of the brand "Gardener's Pharmacy" recommend spraying the crop foliarly with preparations "Avangard Grow Amino" and "Avangard Stimulus", , contributing to the growth of crown greenery and overcoming stress after pruning. During the growing season, 3-4 microfertilizer treatments are allowed.
Boxwood pruning in spring
Almost all varieties and types of crops lend themselves to pruning and shearing, taking the form of various shapes over time. From tall plants often form a hedge. Undersized boxwood is used as a border fence for flower beds. A shrub 25-30 cm high is covered with a metal mesh of a given shape, cutting off all the sprouts protruding above the template.
The optimal time for pruning boxwood in the spring comes in April-May, when the threat of return frosts has passed and consistently warm weather is established.
Due to the toxicity of the leaves, all work is done with gloves. It is better to use sharp scissors with short blades. The procedure starts from the top of the bush, gradually descending. Young branches are removed, guided by the light green color of the growth. If the plant has lost its shape, cut off the old branches.
Boxwood haircut in the spring must be carried out with a disinfected tool. Alcoholic liquids, manganese solution, iodine are used for disinfection. Regular operation stimulates the growth of young branches, makes the bush fluffy and dense. To avoid exposing the inner branches, it is necessary to cut the shoots directed inside the bush. Young plants should be formed with a slight narrowing from the base to the top.
Curly haircut boxwood
The art of decorating a garden with original compositions is subject even to novice gardeners. For curly haircut boxwood, various patterns are used from a grid or metal guides. Devices are stationary and mobile.
In the first case, the structure is installed over a young bush, which, in the process of growth, fills the voids and takes on a given shape. The second option involves the use of portable structures to create simple geometric shapes. Overhead templates (cube, parallelepiped) are put on the plant from above, removing all shoots sticking out of the grid. Especially often devices are used to create a number of identical figures.
Ball
Pruning boxwood in the form of a ball is carried out in two ways. You can make a template with suitable sizes yourself. Connect two arcs with a cross and fix on a metal pin. It is necessary to set the rod as close as possible to the trunk of the tree. Turning the device around the axis, cut off excess branches. The operation should start from the top. The bottom part is formed last. If it is planned to touch the ball of the earth's surface at one point, the plant is grown from one trunk. The base "ball on the water" is formed into several branches.
Using the overlay template, you can first form the boxwood in the form of a cube. Then gently round the edges, achieving the correct spherical shape. It is necessary to periodically evaluate the work visually, moving a few meters away from the composition.
The cube figure can be made from one or more plants. When creating a large-format composition, seedlings are planted in the corners and the base area of the future ensemble. The haircut starts from above, using trellis scissors for roughing, lignified twigs are cut with secateurs.
Cone
The forms of cutting boxwood in the form of a cone or pyramid are similar in terms of the principle of formation. In the first case, the base is made in the form of a circle, in the second - a polygon. Several rails (according to the number of corners) are connected at the top, forming the frame of the figure. The haircut starts from below in the direction of the edges of the template. Then the shoots are removed on the imaginary edges of the structure, cutting the shoots in a circle to a certain height.
