Pruning to Maintain a Privacy Hedge of Flowering Shrubs

Flowering shrubs along the border or fence line of the garden welcomes spring spectacularly. A garden without lilacs, for example, is bereft of beautiful color, pungent scent, and a wonderful opportunity for cut flowers for the house.

Flowering shrubs in spring are as important to the garden design as a bed of brightly colored tulips. When the shrub’s flowers have finished, the garden is given added privacy from the foliage as the shrubs grow on though the season. And a hedge of spring flowering shrubs requires little maintenance with only careful pruning in the fall.

The Negative Side of Shearing a Flowering Hedge

Traditional clipping and shearing could diminish the natural beauty of a spring flowering hedge. The gardener may be left with a neat boxy hedge, but there will be fewer flowers on the hedge the following year.

A regular practice of shearing the lower side branches will eventually lead to defoliation and those branches will be forever bare. While a cedar hedge looks better and responds well with regular shearing, shearing the shrubs of a flowering hedge seldom offers satisfactory results.

Pruning the Flowering Shrub

The best way to shape a flowering hedge is to not shape it, but simply leave it to grow on as nature and hybridization intended. Be selective by removing old, dead or dying stems by simply pruning or cutting them out in the fall. Attack each shrub individually to simply tidy them up. This is necessary for the natural appearance of the hedge as well as the health of the shrubs.

Most flowering shrubs are deciduous, sending new shoots directly from the ground. To cut out the dead shoots, cut from just above the soil with loppers or hand pruners.

Spring and Fall Pruning

Hard pruning in spring will negatively affect the plant’s flowering potential. Pruning after the flowers are spent will have a similar result as it will prevent it from forming the next year’s flower buds. Shearing can be disastrous to its flowering potential if sheared too soon, especially to those shrubs that form berries in the fall.

Follow the shrubs natural flowering calendar to decide when to prune. For spring flowering shrubs, it’s advisable to lightly prune in the fall. Lilacs, however, should at least have the spent flower heads cut away after flowering. The lilac’s flower heads are huge and the shrub will continue to push its nutrients and energy into those spent flowers, rather than concentrate on growth through the growing season. The removal of spent flower heads will also increase its flowering potential the following spring.

Old Shrubs can be Rejuvenated

Very old and tired-looking deciduous shrubs can be rejuvenated by cutting them back to just above ground level. New growth will appear from those stubs and the shrub will grow into a healthy new plant with stronger flowering and deeper colored bark. The best time to do this is in late winter.

Plants for the Flowering Hedge

A rose hedge can be beautiful, but it requires very unique and careful pruning with a view to keeping the individual shrubs open and floriferous. There are numerous rose types and varieties that will make a perfectly beautiful flowering hedge and there are roses that are specifically created for this purpose.

Other good flowering shrubs for most garden zones include weigela, barberry, spirea, daphne, burning bush, forsythia, hydrangea, azalea, viburnum, and lilac. These are all hardy flowering shrubs to zone 4.