I was planning on a harsh pruning of my small garden near Dublin,
which has grown rather wild, but I was surprised to read here
that this was not a good time of year for such action.

Is that really true?
I always thought that it was better to wait until leaves had fallen,
and the shape of things could be seen more clearly.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

It is too early as it is still warm enough for woody plants to start new growth after cutting back. These new growths will be killed in a hard winter.

Leave most pruning till full winter, when sap is at its least vigorous.

One exception is with plants that don't go dormant in winter, in which case frost can get into the cuts. So many evergreens are usually reckoned best pruned a few weeks before frosts. Sept is a standard time for pruning evergreen hedges.

Another exception is with some flowering plants that form their flower buds the previous summer, and you'd lose the flowers with winter pruning. Forsythia, Philadelphus and Viburnum tinus, for example.

Summer pruning is a common technique for certain fruit crops.

But against these rules I prune my beech hedge in late summer - I want a tidy hedge, and so I get rid of all the straggly growth as soon as it stops its major growth spurt, but in time for it to open a few leaves to cover over the damage.

"Timothy Murphy" wrote in message
...
I was planning on a harsh pruning of my small garden near Dublin,
which has grown rather wild, but I was surprised to read here
that this was not a good time of year for such action.

Is that really true?
I always thought that it was better to wait until leaves had fallen,
and the shape of things could be seen more clearly.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Hi Tim,

It depends hugely upon what you are pruning, and why. Apples are pruned in
winter, except for trained (cordon, espalier, etc) apples, which are pruned
in summer. Reason: winter pruning promotes lots of new growth; summer
pruning limits it.
All prunus trees and shrubs (but esp. plums and cherries) must be
spring/summer pruned in good weather to prevent Silver Leaf disease entering
the cuts.

You really need to know what your plants are. If you do know, by all means
post a list here and we will try (I am bound to need help!) to guide you.
Otherwise, invest in The RHS/Dorling Kindersley Pruning & Training guide.
The ISBN is 1-4053-0073-6. If you can't afford it (£19.99 when I bought
it), then I imagine that Trinity College, Dublin has a good library.

Spider

Spider wrote:


I was planning on a harsh pruning of my small garden near Dublin,
which has grown rather wild, but I was surprised to read here
that this was not a good time of year for such action.

Is that really true?
I always thought that it was better to wait until leaves had fallen,
and the shape of things could be seen more clearly.

It depends hugely upon what you are pruning, and why. Apples are pruned
in winter, except for trained (cordon, espalier, etc) apples, which are
pruned
in summer. Reason: winter pruning promotes lots of new growth; summer
pruning limits it.
All prunus trees and shrubs (but esp. plums and cherries) must be
spring/summer pruned in good weather to prevent Silver Leaf disease
entering the cuts.

You really need to know what your plants are. If you do know, by all
means post a list here and we will try (I am bound to need help!) to guide
you. Otherwise, invest in The RHS/Dorling Kindersley Pruning & Training
guide.
The ISBN is 1-4053-0073-6. If you can't afford it (�19.99 when I bought
it), then I imagine that Trinity College, Dublin has a good library.

Thanks for your response.
I'll look at that book.

I think one at least of the shrubs is some kind of prunus.
I don't know now where the shrubs came from.
Probably most are from sales of work, etc.

There are a few roses that must have reached their dig-up date.
I'm not even sure if the spurs are wild rose from the roots;
how does one tell?

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Timothy Murphy writes

There are a few roses that must have reached their dig-up date. I'm not
even sure if the spurs are wild rose from the roots; how does one tell?

More leaflets, and smaller. Or wait till you get flowers.

--
Kay