There’s Still Time to Prune These 8 Plants in April for Stronger Growth and Better Blooms

Most of us know that the best time to prune deciduous plants is during dormancy yet close to spring, a period often defined as late winter/early spring. What about April? In some places (like my home town in central Alaska), April is spring, generally the first month in the new year that it doesn’t snow. And in most USDA hardiness zones, April is not too late to prune some shrubs.

So let’s get down to pruning basics: spring pruning helps landscape plants prepare for a vigorous growing season ahead. Pruning is a good garden habit, helping to keep plants healthy and vigorous as well as control size and structure of garden friends.

Which ones can be pruned in April? Here are eight that are still good to go.

Pruning Tips

First, let’s go over a few basics of pruning. While some plants have specific, unique needs, these guidelines are a good general blueprint for all pruning and trimming:

• Use clean, sharp pruners or shears every time you prune. Our team of gardening experts recommend these bypass pruners from Felco, available on Amazon, for clean and easy cuts. Dull or dirty tools can damage branches and introduce disease. Keep your pruning shears sharp with a Corona sharpener, also available from Amazon.
• Remove damaged or diseased branches first. You can actually remove these any time of year.
• Remove suckers.
• Once damaged, branches and suckers are gone, you can do the bulk of the pruning work. Remove no more than one-quarter to one-third of the plant. Prune for shape and size, to eliminate crossed branches, and to let more light into the interior of the plant.
• Make cuts at a 45-degree angle and just above nodes. If you cut at an outward-facing node, new growth will also face outward. Cut at inward-facing nodes for more inward growth.

Essential Pruning Tools

1. Butterfly Bush

Most gardeners love butterflies, and those happy fliers love butterfly bushes. So it’s natural we plant them in our gardens. They are always described as being aggressive growers, but still, it turns your head to see how fast they expand. That means that pruning is essential to keep the plants shapely, healthy and vibrant.

April is the ideal month to trim back your butterfly bushes. Last frosts are mostly in the rear view mirror and new growth is about to begin. Pruning now means that the flowers that appear over the summer will be strong and healthy, and that their numbers will be numerous.

How to prune? Take off the top section of the plant, reducing it in size significantly. You can take off up to half of the height and still retain a strong, vital bush. Of course, any dead or damaged branches should also be removed during this pruning.

2. American Beautyberry

American beautyberry is an excellent landscape shrub, with its bright purple berries that light up the garden in fall and winter. The same berries that give the plant its common name make it attractive to wild birds in the area. It’s a low-maintenance shrub that grows oh-so-quickly and annual pruning is a must.

Trimming back beautyberries keeps the shrub looking its best; the blazing fast growth can get untidy. Pruning back in April encourages the growth of new shoots that will bear the season’s blooms and fruit.

As always, pruning starts with cutting off dead, damaged, or diseased branches. But then, take it further. Remove about a third of the length of the flowered stems, making the cut just above a healthy set of buds. Prune out some of the older stems as well to keep the shrub young and vigorous.

3. Flowering Quince

Flowering quince is a deciduous shrub that offers a dazzling display of gorgeous flowers. The blossoms, in brilliant shades of red, pink and white, appear in early spring, lighting up the garden in an otherwise less colorful season of the year.

Flowering quince should be pruned directly after they flower. Most of the time, this means April, although the timing depends on your climate. Since flowering quince blossoms on wood produced the previous season, pruning just after flowering helps keep those crops of blossoms coming. Pull on heavy gardening gloves to keep the spiny stems from pricking your hands, then prune out the usual suspects: dead, damaged, or diseased stems, as well as crossing branches. A pair of heavy duty gauntlet gardening gloves, available from Amazon, will keep your hands and forearms protected from spines and thorns while you prune.

Flowering spurs should be pruned back to a few buds from the base. If the shrub is overgrown, rejuvenate it by removing some of the oldest branches.

4. Winterberry

Not all types of holly bloom in time for the holidays, but winterberry - a compact holly bush - does. This native plant sets its fruit quite early, yet the boughs are laden with deep green leaves and red berries straight on through spring.

Those berries develop from flowers that grow on the new growth of the winterberry shrub. That’s why it’s important to prune and shape the bush in early spring before new growth starts. April can be the perfect moment.

You have two primary tasks when you are pruning. First, winterberry shrubs shoot up fast and need shaping to keep them attractive. Generally this can be light pruning to keep the shape tidy. If the holly is overgrown, you can remove the oldest branches each year, taking out no more than a third of the branches. But second, the winterberry produces so many suckers that they can get out of control if not trimmed out often.

5. Grapevines

My friend in France has grapevines covering her arbor and, in summer, the grapes hang though the slats creating a totally charming atmosphere. But though the grapes are easy to eat, the vines require effort. There is no way you can avoid pruning grape vines if you want a heavy crop the following year.

Pruning grapevines is always accomplished during the dormant season, and April is one of the top months. That’s because warm weather is just around the corner. If you leave the vines to their own devices, they may pour all their energy into growing longer, instead of into fruit production. The first step is the same as other plants: take out diseased, dead, or damaged wood. After that, reduce the prior year’s growth, leaving only a few buds – strong, healthy ones – on each cane.

6. American Smoke Tree

Nobody who has seen an American smoke tree will ask how it got its name. In summer, it develops a full canopy of leaves that are covered with a haze of tiny, pale purple flowers. Yes, it looks like the burning bush! Foliage comes in a variety of colors and smoke trees can be grown as a bush or a small tree.

Smoke trees are pretty self sufficient in the landscape, but you will want to do a pruning to keep the plant in nice shape and maintain a compact form. April is a good month to take up the pruners since the bush is about to come out of dormancy. Pruning smoke trees should involve removing dead or damaged branches, taking the older stems down in size even to ground level, and shaping the remaining growth.

7. Panicle Hydrangea

When it comes to your hydrangeas, one of the most important things you need to know about them is whether they bloom on old wood or new wood. This is critical when it comes to pruning. Panicle hydrangeas bloom on new wood – their showy cone-shaped flower clusters appearing in summer and lasting through fall.

The best time to prune panicle hydrangeas is in spring, after the final frost of the season but before new growth emerges. April pruning works well, encouraging robust branching and generous blooms in summer. Simply trim back the prior year’s growth to a pair of strong buds, reducing the height by up to one-half of the height. The new growth that sprouts there will support the summer blooms.

8. Shrubby Cinquefoil

Shrubby cinquefoil is among the most popular landscape shrubs. This native shrub is hardy, tolerant, carefree and seems to bloom forever. It has no fear of drought, salt air or urban pollution and puts up with any weather except the hot and the humid.

Shrubby cinquefoil doesn’t ask for much to thrive. It grows in poor soils and can survive harsh weather extremes – yes, it blooms all summer long in Alaska! The canary yellow, five-petaled blossoms, each no bigger than an inch in diameter, add color and cheer to the garden. They are a significant food source for pollinators. The leaves are also lovely, each compound leaf consisting of 5 small leaflets arranged like fingers on a hand.

Does shrubby cinquefoil need pruning? Generally, not a lot. Even minimal pruning is usually sufficient to tidy its compact form. April is a good month to trim this shrub, taking out dead, damaged, and crossing branches. If your cinquefoil is overgrown, you can do heavier pruning to control the size.

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