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Pruning spring blooming shrubs

CAlexander | Posted in Mountain West Gardening on

I noticed in this to do list post for July that it mentions pruning late spring-blooming shrubs such as lilac and forsythia. What other shrubs should we look at pruning now?

https://www.finegardening.com/article/mountain-west-july-garden-to-do-list-regional-report

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  1. User avater Moderator
    maryannnewcomer | | #1

    I prune back several of our spring blooming shrubs, primarily to reshape them, to keep them manageable, as well as to encourage bud set for the following spring. For instance, we have a 4-year-old Viburnum rhytidophyllum (leather leaf), and it has sent out crazy 6-foot stems in all directions. The bulk of the branches are only 3-4 feet. I removed a few of the long branches the first year and a few the second year, and will continue to do so until it looks a bit more uniform. I also gently reshape the mock orange (Philadelphus lewisii), tidy up the smoke bush and cleaned up the magnolia stellata. I don't prune them into a lollipop, but "manage" the overall size and clean up broken and crossing stems.

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