As you drive down the street in your neighborhood do you notice overly-pruned shrubs that sometimes resemble ‘cupcakes’, boxes or ‘perfect’ balls?
In the plant industry, we often refer to this type of pruning as ‘poodle-pruning’. Often the reason for over-pruning is that shrubs were planted too closely together. It isn’t that obvious when they are small, but once they begin to grow – they start growing together.
So, the landscaper (or homeowner) then over-prunes the shrubs to keep them from touching.
The other day, as I was driving into the parking lot of my favorite warehouse store – I saw the following…
These shrubs look more like ‘cupcakes’ then the beautiful, flowering shrubs that they truly are.
Just across the way, I saw another example of over-pruning of flowering shrubs…
You would have a hard time telling that these shrubs were actually flowering shrubs, wouldn’t you?
Now there isn’t anything wrong with formal pruning – but it shouldn’t be done to flowering shrubs because it robs them of their beauty.
So, what can you do besides pulling out excess shrubs? (Which is a viable option).
How about allowing them to grow together to form a hedge?
A flowering hedge equals less maintenance and more attractive shrubs.
So, if you have overcrowded shrubs, how about letting them grow into a beautiful, flowering hedge?
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I absolutely love taking pictures of birds or any animals that we have living and taking advantage of my little side garden. We have mostly female Ruby Throated hummingbirds, Black-capped Chickadees, Juncos, Mourning Doves, Northern Blue Jays, Northern Red Cardinals, Titmouse, English Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Goldfinches (male and female), Purple House Finches, White-crowned Sparrows, many Starlings and Crows, and a few Red-winged Blackbirds (in early spring, which are my favorite bird of all!).
Thank you for offering all the information on your webstie…enjoy it very much.
Chris S.