Colourful Stems and Large Foliage

Some shrubs (e.g. Cornus) when pruned hard will throw up colourful stems the provide interest in the winter. Other when cut back hard create large leaves. When use on trees it’s called coppicing and pollarding and with small shrubs it’s called ‘stooling’.

When to prune -

• For the large leaves you should do the pruning late winter or early spring

• For shrub plants prune late March to mid-April

What to prune -

• In the second or third spring, cut back to 60-90cm from the ground for pollards or 5-7.5cm for coppiced.

• Shrubs like Cornus can be cut back hard to promote colourful stem growth

• branches are diseased, damaged or dead (the three Ds).

• branches are congested or crossing each other.

• branches are growing in unwanted directions (e.g. in toward the centre of the plant)

• branches that are weak or spindly in order to promote stronger growth in others

• Cut out old branches at the base at the base to encourage new growth