Ciscoe Morris: Prune the right way or not at all

Among the long list of tasks to be completed in the yard
this weekend may be pruning.

Master gardener Ciscoe Morris says if you’re not
confident, just forget about it because it’s worse to
poorly prune a
shrub than to not trim it at all. He says the only reason
to prune is to get the plant to produce more
fruit or flowers or because we think it could look more
attractive.

If you’re going to attempt to “whack the living tweedle”
out of something, Ciscoe says to do it as soon as the
shrub is
done blooming.

“After spring blooming plants are done with their flowers,
they grow and set their buds for next year. If you wait
too long and interfere with that process, you’re just not
going to get many flowers.”

“Anything that blooms during the summer, you prune right
when they start to grow in the spring: hydrangeas or
roses.”

If you’ve discovered you don’t even have a plant left to
whack apart, it’s time to head to the nursery. Ciscoe says
it’s
probably nothing you did wrong; the last three winters
were brutal and killed a lot of plants.

For new hydrangeas, Ciscoe says give them morning sun and
add a lot of compost when you plant them. “They’re one of
the easiest plants to grow.”

Ciscoe recommends the Blue Wave variety.

Gardening with Ciscoe can be heard on 97.3 KIRO FM Weekends Saturdays at 10:00 a.m.
and anytime at KIRORadio
.com.