Prune- Noun, Verb, Or a Chance For a Mess?
Prune. It could be a tree; not my favorite. It could be the artful and sculptural removal of plant material to enhance the beauty and health of your plants, shrubs, and trees. It can also mean a big mess.
I was in the landscape maintenance business for a lot of years, and by the way, it is landscape maintenance, because it involved so much. To be a good landscape professional one must be a P.R. person, business man, horticulturist, mechanic, plumber, electrician, and pest control applicator.
In the days when I had crews all over town maintaining gardens at homes, estates, and businesses a couple of things really bothered me. Baggies weighted with rocks with flyers in them, thrown into driveways that would advertise "expert landscape care". The other thing that bothered me was the term "mow and blow". I realize that was probably an apt description of what a lot of "gardeners" do, but to the real experts, it is pretty offensive.
It used to be, mowing and blowing could cut it. Not anymore. More and more, lawns are disappearing. Those lawns are being replaced with entirely different landscapes than existed before. Gone are the former pop-up lawn sprinklers and shrub sprayers of the past. In line drip, and other forms of drip irrigation have become much more prevalent. I used to think it was pretty easy to make a hot mess of a place with a bad irrigation installation, but it is nothing like what I see nowadays. Some of the absolutely horrid erector set irrigation set ups are appalling. If you are old enough, you may remember Rube Goldberg illustrations, in which the cartoonist takes a simple task and makes it absurdly difficult. So it is in a lot of gardens I see. Do not mix drip irrigation with standard spray nozzles!!!!!!! They have completely different flow rates and pressure restraints. I know this is a personal thing, my own pet peeve, forgive my momentary rant....okay, here I go. What is it with all the darn spaghetti tubing and a jillion pots with differing emitters and well, just a big mess! Buy a FEW really nice pots, plant them perfectly, and make them a gorgeous asset to your garden. I really don't like seeing lots and lots of crummy pots with tubes everywhere and poorly maintained plants. Sorry, rant over.
So with seemingly less to do in our gardens these days, let's perform the tasks we do have with skill and artfulness. I hope to have my buddy Ted Overland do a pruning seminar for San Diego Gardener FB group in the near future. He is the local Zen Master of pruning. He takes an ordinary shrub or small tree and sees the the very soul and essence of the tree. It really is an art. I know you aren't there yet, but let's at least cover the basics.
Rule #1:
Put those hedge shears down! Yes, you heard me. Drop the hedgers. Put them back in the shed, that is, unless you have hedges. You have my permission to square up, round off, and tightly clip any and all plants that were meant to be hedges, Texas privet? Check. Boxwood? Check. Your Disneyland wannabe creations and topiaries? Have at it. For virtually everything else, you do not want to use the hedge shears. It is the lazy way out. By the way, I have worked with Ted a great deal, and I have never even seen him with hedge shears in his hands. Nope, NEVER. If you want really artfully sculpted shrubs and small trees, DON"T HEDGE THEM. One of the classic shrubs that is frequently hedged but should never receive that treatment is Leptospermum scoparium. I always hated these. The reason? People most frequently box or ball them. If they are laced and pruned to accentuate interesting structure, they aren't so bad. See, it's not such a bad tree, Charlie Brown.
Rule #2:
Buy the best pair of pruners you can afford. My preference is the trusty old standby of generations of gardeners, the Felco #2, Don't ask me if you can borrow them. Get your hands off my Felco's! I have had the same pair since I started my landscape business in 1984. I love them. They have replaceable parts, which makes maintenance easier, I may have the same pair of pruners, but my blade and spring have been changed many times. I have also gone through 4 or 5 scabards, but my Felco investment has paid off many times over. Keep them sharp, well oiled, and clean. These will set you back around $60.00.
Rule #3:
Don't use the loppers! Yes, you heard me, don't use the loppers. Well trained and experienced pruners with skill and expertise do not use loppers on their fine trees and shrubs. You will be allowed to retain possesion of your large and long pruners, just use them to cut branches down to size for placing in trash cans and so on. You also have permission to use them for preliminary cuts, but never for finish cuts near the trunk. Any cut larger than about 3/4 to 1" should be done with a high quality pruning saw. I like a folding saw that I can keep in my pocket till I need it. Corona makes perfectly suitable folding saws for our purposes. Get in the habit of not using the loppers. Your plants will thank you. Loppers make sloppy cuts, and frequently leave "tags" or uneven wounds. You want clean and even cuts at the cambium, so the tree can heal well and the bark tissues of the tree can cover and seal cuts.
Rule #4:
Don't use the chain saw! Rule 4 is similar to rule 3. The chain saw just doesn't make as clean or well controlled a cut as a high quality pruning saw. It is fine for cutting lumber down to size, but should be used very advisedly on living tissues of trees. A chain saw is certainly useful for felling trees.
Rule# 5:
Buy and use Lysol spray, or make a solution of 10% bleach solution and clean all your tools between trees or shrubs. DO NOT BE LAZY!!! There are dozens of pathogens attacking our trees and shrubs, and new ones seem to be discovered all the time! Phytophtora, Xylella, Sudden Oak Death, and many other fungi and bacteria are wreaking havoc with our plants and trees. Don't spread disease to your healthy plants by poor sanitary practices. Treat saws and pruners between pruning each tree. Is this a hassle? Darn tooting. But, do you like losing plants? Discipline yourself and clean all your tools each time you begin on a new plant. I am certain a lot of disease is spread around by "professional" gardeners and tree trimmers.
Rule #6:
Do wear gloves. I have been at this a long time. Trust me, you will have accidents. You will cut yourself, despite being very careful. I was trimming years ago at Dr. Aiden Raney's house when I sliced off the end of my thumb. Dang!!! That really hurt! Thankfully, I was with one of California's preeminent heart surgeons...what a place to have that happen. I about passed out. His wife Ann made me a cup of tea, told me to put my head between my legs. Put the little thumb on ice, and off we go to the ER. I recently sliced deeply through a finger with my freshly sharpened Felco's. This time it was the finger of the glove and my flesh was uninvolved. WEAR THE GLOVES.
I just realized I am well into this article, and I haven't even gotten around to telling you how to prune. We did need to cover these preliminary issues. Come back next time, and we'll talk about actual pruning.
I was in the landscape maintenance business for a lot of years, and by the way, it is landscape maintenance, because it involved so much. To be a good landscape professional one must be a P.R. person, business man, horticulturist, mechanic, plumber, electrician, and pest control applicator.
In the days when I had crews all over town maintaining gardens at homes, estates, and businesses a couple of things really bothered me. Baggies weighted with rocks with flyers in them, thrown into driveways that would advertise "expert landscape care". The other thing that bothered me was the term "mow and blow". I realize that was probably an apt description of what a lot of "gardeners" do, but to the real experts, it is pretty offensive.
It used to be, mowing and blowing could cut it. Not anymore. More and more, lawns are disappearing. Those lawns are being replaced with entirely different landscapes than existed before. Gone are the former pop-up lawn sprinklers and shrub sprayers of the past. In line drip, and other forms of drip irrigation have become much more prevalent. I used to think it was pretty easy to make a hot mess of a place with a bad irrigation installation, but it is nothing like what I see nowadays. Some of the absolutely horrid erector set irrigation set ups are appalling. If you are old enough, you may remember Rube Goldberg illustrations, in which the cartoonist takes a simple task and makes it absurdly difficult. So it is in a lot of gardens I see. Do not mix drip irrigation with standard spray nozzles!!!!!!! They have completely different flow rates and pressure restraints. I know this is a personal thing, my own pet peeve, forgive my momentary rant....okay, here I go. What is it with all the darn spaghetti tubing and a jillion pots with differing emitters and well, just a big mess! Buy a FEW really nice pots, plant them perfectly, and make them a gorgeous asset to your garden. I really don't like seeing lots and lots of crummy pots with tubes everywhere and poorly maintained plants. Sorry, rant over.
So with seemingly less to do in our gardens these days, let's perform the tasks we do have with skill and artfulness. I hope to have my buddy Ted Overland do a pruning seminar for San Diego Gardener FB group in the near future. He is the local Zen Master of pruning. He takes an ordinary shrub or small tree and sees the the very soul and essence of the tree. It really is an art. I know you aren't there yet, but let's at least cover the basics.
Rule #1:
Put those hedge shears down! Yes, you heard me. Drop the hedgers. Put them back in the shed, that is, unless you have hedges. You have my permission to square up, round off, and tightly clip any and all plants that were meant to be hedges, Texas privet? Check. Boxwood? Check. Your Disneyland wannabe creations and topiaries? Have at it. For virtually everything else, you do not want to use the hedge shears. It is the lazy way out. By the way, I have worked with Ted a great deal, and I have never even seen him with hedge shears in his hands. Nope, NEVER. If you want really artfully sculpted shrubs and small trees, DON"T HEDGE THEM. One of the classic shrubs that is frequently hedged but should never receive that treatment is Leptospermum scoparium. I always hated these. The reason? People most frequently box or ball them. If they are laced and pruned to accentuate interesting structure, they aren't so bad. See, it's not such a bad tree, Charlie Brown.
Rule #2:
Buy the best pair of pruners you can afford. My preference is the trusty old standby of generations of gardeners, the Felco #2, Don't ask me if you can borrow them. Get your hands off my Felco's! I have had the same pair since I started my landscape business in 1984. I love them. They have replaceable parts, which makes maintenance easier, I may have the same pair of pruners, but my blade and spring have been changed many times. I have also gone through 4 or 5 scabards, but my Felco investment has paid off many times over. Keep them sharp, well oiled, and clean. These will set you back around $60.00.
Rule #3:
Don't use the loppers! Yes, you heard me, don't use the loppers. Well trained and experienced pruners with skill and expertise do not use loppers on their fine trees and shrubs. You will be allowed to retain possesion of your large and long pruners, just use them to cut branches down to size for placing in trash cans and so on. You also have permission to use them for preliminary cuts, but never for finish cuts near the trunk. Any cut larger than about 3/4 to 1" should be done with a high quality pruning saw. I like a folding saw that I can keep in my pocket till I need it. Corona makes perfectly suitable folding saws for our purposes. Get in the habit of not using the loppers. Your plants will thank you. Loppers make sloppy cuts, and frequently leave "tags" or uneven wounds. You want clean and even cuts at the cambium, so the tree can heal well and the bark tissues of the tree can cover and seal cuts.
Rule #4:
Don't use the chain saw! Rule 4 is similar to rule 3. The chain saw just doesn't make as clean or well controlled a cut as a high quality pruning saw. It is fine for cutting lumber down to size, but should be used very advisedly on living tissues of trees. A chain saw is certainly useful for felling trees.
Rule# 5:
Buy and use Lysol spray, or make a solution of 10% bleach solution and clean all your tools between trees or shrubs. DO NOT BE LAZY!!! There are dozens of pathogens attacking our trees and shrubs, and new ones seem to be discovered all the time! Phytophtora, Xylella, Sudden Oak Death, and many other fungi and bacteria are wreaking havoc with our plants and trees. Don't spread disease to your healthy plants by poor sanitary practices. Treat saws and pruners between pruning each tree. Is this a hassle? Darn tooting. But, do you like losing plants? Discipline yourself and clean all your tools each time you begin on a new plant. I am certain a lot of disease is spread around by "professional" gardeners and tree trimmers.
Rule #6:
Do wear gloves. I have been at this a long time. Trust me, you will have accidents. You will cut yourself, despite being very careful. I was trimming years ago at Dr. Aiden Raney's house when I sliced off the end of my thumb. Dang!!! That really hurt! Thankfully, I was with one of California's preeminent heart surgeons...what a place to have that happen. I about passed out. His wife Ann made me a cup of tea, told me to put my head between my legs. Put the little thumb on ice, and off we go to the ER. I recently sliced deeply through a finger with my freshly sharpened Felco's. This time it was the finger of the glove and my flesh was uninvolved. WEAR THE GLOVES.
I just realized I am well into this article, and I haven't even gotten around to telling you how to prune. We did need to cover these preliminary issues. Come back next time, and we'll talk about actual pruning.
Comments
Post a Comment