Winter Pruning Guide

Winter in Atlanta, Georgia, offers the perfect opportunity to tidy up your landscape and prepare your plants for a healthy growing season. Pruning during the dormant season minimizes plant stress, improves air circulation, and encourages robust growth. This guide focuses on pruning crepe myrtles, roses, evergreen shrubs, and hydrangeas, including smooth, panicle, and bigleaf varieties.

Crepe Myrtles

Crepe myrtles are a beloved staple in Atlanta's landscapes. Pruning these trees in late winter, just before new growth begins, helps maintain their elegant form and encourages vibrant blooms.

1. Avoid "Crepe Murder":
   Resist the urge to cut back crepe myrtles to stubs. They are trees. This practice weakens the plant and detracts from its natural beauty.
2. Remove Dead or Crossing Branches:
   Focus on eliminating dead wood, inward-growing branches, and crossing limbs.
3. Shape Lightly:
   For an airy, natural look, thin out crowded areas and remove suckers at the base of the plant. You can lightly tip the top of the tree, but it's unnecessary unless you are trying to control height.

Roses

Roses thrive with annual pruning, which promotes healthy growth and abundant flowers. The ideal time to prune roses in Atlanta is from late January to early February.

Hybrid Teas and Floribundas:

• Cut back to about 12-18 inches
• Removing dead or diseased wood
• Aim for an open, vase-like shape.
• Knockout roses are in this category.

Climbing Roses:

• Remove old canes
• Tie new canes to supports
• Prune lateral shoots back to 2-3 buds.

Evergreen Shrubs

Evergreen shrubs, like boxwoods and hollies, can also benefit from winter pruning. While they do not require heavy pruning, a light trim ensures they remain tidy.

• Timing: Only prune in when temps are above 32 degrees to avoid damage from extreme cold.
• Remove Dead Wood: Cut back dead or diseased branches.
• Shape: Use hand pruners to take deep cuts inside these evergreen plants to help promote interior growth and increase airflow.
• If plants are overgrown, this is the time of year to make hard cutbacks to reduce their overall height and size.

Hydrangeas

Hydrangea pruning depends on the variety, so it's crucial to identify your plant type before getting started.

• Smooth Hydrangeas (H. arborescens):
  Bloom on new wood, so prune them back to 12-24 inches in late winter to encourage vigorous growth and more prominent flowers.
• Panicle Hydrangeas (H. paniculata):
  Bloom on new wood, unlike smooth hydrangeas. Prune in late winter to remove old blooms and shape the plant. You typically want to prune about one-third of this variety in winter.
• Bigleaf Hydrangeas (H. macrophylla):
  These bloom on old wood, so avoid heavy pruning. Only remove dead or damaged stems and lightly shape them after blooming in summer.

General Pruning Tips

• Use Clean, Sharp Tools: Sanitize your pruning tools before and after use to prevent disease spread.
• Cut at the Right Angle: Make cuts at a slight angle above a healthy bud or branch junction.
• Don't Overdo It: Over-pruning can stress plants and reduce blooms or growth.

Following these guidelines set the stage for a stunning landscape come spring. Winter pruning rejuvenates your plants and provides a therapeutic way to engage with your garden during the cooler months. Happy pruning!

Peter Copses, Vice President
Gibbs Landscape Company