Tony Tomeo: Wintertime is time for pruning | House & Back garden

There are, of class, a few exceptions. Citrus and avocado must not be pruned in the course of wintertime. These kinds of pruning stimulates new growth, which is delicate to frost. Maple and birch should have been pruned before. They bleed annoyingly if pruned late into winter season. Flowering trees that develop no fruit, this kind of as flowering dogwood and flowering cherry, should be pruned following bloom, late in spring.

Deciduous fruiting trees, this kind of as apricot, cherry, plum, peach, apple and pear, call for specialized pruning all through wintertime.

Highlight: Flowering dogwood

Flowering dogwood, Cornus florida, has anything in common with Poinsettia. The most colourful component of their bloom is not floral, but is as an alternative foliar. What seems to be petals are colourful leaves regarded as bracts. Exactly 4 bracts surround just about every compact cluster of tiny and unimpressive pale green serious flowers. These bracts are most popularly white, but can be pink or rarely brick crimson.

The deciduous trees are bare now, but bloom spectacularly in early spring. Any vital pruning should transpire after bloom, and preferable after new foliage matures considerably. Floral buds for upcoming 12 months are already popular on the tips of bare twigs. Dormant pruning would reduce some of the buds prior to bloom. For now, only insignificant grooming of unbudded interior progress is practical.

Mature flowering dogwood trees can be 20 ft tall, but generally stay decreased. As understory trees, they like a little bit of shelter from greater trees. Foliage can scorch if way too uncovered. Some cultivars have variegated foliage. All can build vibrant orange and crimson foliar colour for autumn, even with nominal chill. Floral debris resembles fallen leaves that drop just as new and actual foliage develops.