Why we prune in summer

Ruth looks at the reasons for pruning at this time of year

- Ruth Hayes

IT has been a brilliant year for blossom so far, with trees and shrubs dripping with colourful flowers, perfuming the air and brightening gardens and hedges. While many of these will wait to be cut back in autumn when they lose their leaves and go dormant for winter, several varieties are ready to be cut back now.

This week I’ve been trimming our early summer flowering weigela and a deutzia, our ornamental cherry tree and our ‘Victoria’ plum and greengage.

The deciduous deutzia and weigela, alongside philadelphus and beauty bush (kolkwitzia) are cut back immediately after they have flowered to give this year’s subsequent growth time to mature enough to produce next year’s blossom.

Leave it too late and they won’t flower as well – this is the same reason for pruning forsythia, which flowers in early spring, straight after it has bloomed.

When tackling these shrubs, cut back side branches to just above a healthy leaf bud. Healthy new buds will soon Al appear and produce new growth.