You can certainly argue about the best time to cut back bushes, but this is often a matter of consideration or a pure question of time. Some shrubs also tolerate two cuts per year, in spring and autumn.
Which shrubs should you cut in autumn?
In autumn, berry bushes such as currants and gooseberries, blackberries and summer raspberries, hedge bushes (except early bloomers), evergreen bushes, crabgrass and some types of hydrangeas, such as forest or viburnum hydrangeas and panicle hydrangeas, should be pruned to promote growth and promote plant he alth.
What are the advantages of pruning in autumn?
Cut back evergreen shrubs in autumn to reduce the risk of branches or twigs breaking under the weight of heavy snowfall. If the branches of large bushes hang over a path so that you brush against them when walking on them, then that is certainly no fun in wet weather. If you prune these bushes in good time, you will save yourself from many involuntary showers.
Which shrubs should be cut back in autumn?
Cut back your berry bushes in autumn, such as currants and gooseberries, but also blackberries and summer raspberries. This will prevent any mites that may be present on the bushes from overwintering and spreading and multiplying again next spring. Autumn raspberries, on the other hand, are only cut in winter.
Hedge bushes are usually pruned in autumn, and often again in spring. Pruning is only legally permitted without restrictions from October 1st and before March 1st. In summer, radical cutting to protect breeding birds is prohibited. Then you can only make light shaping and care cuts.
Shrubs to cut in autumn:
- Berry fruit
- Hedge bushes, exception: early bloomers
- evergreen shrubs
- fingerbush
- Forest or viburnum hydrangeas
- Panicle hydrangeas
Are all hydrangeas pruned in the fall?
Similar names suggest similar care, but you shouldn't prune all hydrangeas in the fall. Varieties that sprout new buds in autumn should no longer be cut back. Most species belong to this category, for example farmer's hydrangeas, climbing hydrangeas, giant leaf hydrangeas and plate hydrangeas.
Few species such as the forest or viburnum hydrangea and the panicle hydrangea are an exception. The new flower buds do not form on these bushes until spring. Therefore they can be pruned either in autumn or early spring.
Tip
It is best to cut evergreen shrubs in late autumn, then fewer shoots will break off due to their snow load in winter.
