How to maintain ornamental shrubs and trees

Spring and fall are the best times to plant shrubs and trees as they are either still in a state of rest or already preparing for winter after shedding their leaves. Here's a guide to maintaining your beautiful garden.

Spring and fall are the best times to plant shrubs and trees as they are either still in a state of rest or already preparing for winter after shedding their leaves. Luckily, after you do this, they don't need too much care. However, ornamental trees and shrubs do need pruning to supply them with light and air. Here's a guide to maintaining your beautiful garden.

• Loosen up matted root balls with a fork before pulling the roots apart.
• Clip the roots and shoots to promote the growth of new and healthy plant parts. To prune a tree before planting, lay it across a pair of sawhorses.
• Erect the supporting stake into the planting hole before inserting the tree to avoid damaging the roots. It will also be much easier to handle and insert the supporting stake without the tree or shrub in the way.
• Use pantyhose to tie the tree to the stake. They're cheaper than store-bought ropes and cords for tying trees and, because of their softness and elasticity, they provide more protection, especially to younger trees.

Tip: Many blooming ornamental shrubs compensate for audacious pruning with good growth and a bountiful flowering. Plants such as Russian sage, pee gee hydrangea or butterfly bush respond well to a radical pruning.

• Unless they are spring bloomers, prune in early spring, shortly before plants sprout. Don't prune during a severe frost, and avoid pruning the plants that bloom in spring and summer right after they've finish blossoming. Prune them later in the season.
• Thoroughly thin out flowering shrubs that have become scrubby and have stopped producing blooming branches.
• Prune the bent branches of barberry and forsythia right behind the bend.
• Do not regularly prune evergreen shrubs and conifers, golden chain, dogwood, magnolia or witch hazel; in fact, it can do them harm.
• Put layers of mulch around the base of shrubs and trees to keep the soil from drying out during the heat of summer and, at the same time, provide protection against weeds.
• Protect the trunks of young trees from damage with a slit plastic bottle or chicken wire.
• Try adding hardwood ash to the soil for a shrub that fails to bloom; there may not be enough potash in the soil.