Garden Helpline.

Apr 27, Pruning evergreen shrubs Meatball and tuna can theory. There are few areas in one’s life where we have the ability to exercise supreme control Sharpen your skills and your tools!. Where to start?

June 26,

If there’s one mistake I see home gardeners repeat often, Estimated Reading Time: 6 mins. When selectively pruning, always cut the growth back to a side shoot. Some evergreen species withstand relatively heavy pruning. This is true of Japaneseyew, boxwood, andevergreen privet.

With the exception of box, these species grow rather rapidly.

These plants can be sheared, which involves the uniform removal of new growth to make a plant conform to a prescribed shape. The first step in pruning evergreens is to identify them, because they're not all created equal when it comes to pruning. To help you identify the evergreens in your landscape, click here. Once you know which evergreens you're dealing with, I generally recommend pruning them between mid-June and mid-July.

By then, their new growth has pretty much finished elongating, which allows you to get a sense.