Size of shrubs: tips and tools

This is one of the tasks to be done to prepare the garden well for winter: the pruning of shrubs. Find out what it's for, what tools it needs and how to prune it properly and when you need it.

What's the point of pruning the shrubs in the garden?

Beyond the aesthetic aspect of a garden planted with well-cut shrubs, pruning is also essential for the good health of plants. Whether persistent or deciduous, they are pruned to flourish, leave after winter, and flower when their flowering period occurs.

On the other hand, caring well is an imperative to ensure the safety of everyone in the garden: if you do not intervene, the plants may spread to the point that you can no longer walk your driveways. As for dead or diseased branches, they can both be a hindrance to the proper growth of shrubs and a danger to the walker in case of a gale... It's better to get rid of it!

When and how to prune shrubs?

If the shrubs all have different needs, it is still advisable to prune them (withexceptions) 3 times a year:sauf exception

• First, at the end of winter, when we cut very frankly;
• Then at the beginning of the summer when the plant is refreshed;
• And finally in the fall when we just prune more shyly (or even, where we do not prune at all).

As far as the calendar is concerned, however, it all depends on when flowering occurs: for deciduous shrubs,you will have to wait until the end of this flowering before decluttering the plants of their dead branches, getting them back into shape, removing the wilted flowers and clearing the feet of their old branches by cutting them well to the ground. For shrubs flowering in summer, you will have to perform these actions at the end of winter, for those flowering in spring, early summer, and for those flowering in winter, when the good weather returns.

As for the evergreen shrubs that make up the hedges,they will also be given three sizes: one at the end of winter to give them good shape, one of early summer to revive and rebalance them, and one of autumn - if you wish, it is not a necessary step ... - to redesign their silhouette without going too straight to do so as not to make the shrub vulnerable before the first frosts..

What tools to use for pruning?

Several specific tools can be used to carve into the rules of the art. These include:

-      The straight-bladedpruner, with two blades sliding against each other and which proves very useful in ridding the shrubs of their thin branches;

-      The anvil pruner,equipped with a sharp blade that crashes into the throat of the opposite part to cut wood, and which is used to cut branches of a larger diameter;

-      The brancher- also known as a branch cutter - with straight blades, with longer handles than the pruner (between 35 and 80 cm) and allowing to reach green wood and branches of an even larger diameter without having to climb a ladder;

-      Also composed of a single blade, theanvil brancher - or anvil branch cutter - ideal for the less straightforward cutting of very rigid or even dead branches. More powerful, it has the disadvantage of crushing the wood fibers;

-      The multiplied or telescopic branch, existing with straight blades or anvil and which, as the name suggests, has telescopic handles that can reach even higher areas. There are models equipped with a lever-based multiplier, and others a rack multiplier... It's up to you to determine which one is best for you;

-      Mounted on a telescopic handle of up to 5 m, the echenilloir,a solution all found to reach without too much effort or danger the very high branches. Composed of a branch cutter (with straight blades or anvil), its action is controlled by a cord that cuts branches up to 40 mm in diameter;

-      The pruning saw,a true ally of the gardener. Whether it is straight, folding with a curved blade, its blade of about thirty cm allows to reach the highest branches and make a sharp cut. The little one? Choose a Japanese tooth, with a fearsome 3D sharpened teeth;

-      Also equipped with a telescopic arm,the telescopic pruning saw, which allows to cut branches located more than 3.5 m high ... Always without having to balance on a stepladder! If it is rarely used for the size of shrubs, it is more useful to that of trees.

Maintaining tools, instructions

To be effective, these tools must be carefully maintained. After each size, consider rubbing them with vegetable oil and cleaning the blades with a cloth soaked in alcohol at 70oC to prevent disease from spreading.

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