01
Late winter, before buds swell
Summer bloomers and anything grown for foliage. Panicle hydrangea, smooth hydrangea, spirea, potentilla, red twig dogwood. Also the right time to take deadwood and crossing branches out of almost anything.
Shrubs · March 2026 · 6 min read
When to Prune What: A Local Pruning Calendar
Timing decides whether you get flowers next year. The shears do not care.
The most common call we get in June is about a shrub that did not bloom. Nine times out of ten it bloomed on old wood and somebody sheared it the previous summer or in early spring.
This is the calendar we work from on the plant material that shows up in almost every yard around here.
02
Right after flowering, spring bloomers only
Lilac, forsythia, rhododendron, azalea, andromeda, mountain laurel. These set next year buds within weeks of blooming, so the pruning window is short. Miss it by a month and you have traded next spring for a tidier July.
03
Big leaf hydrangea is the trap
The blue and pink mophead hydrangeas bloom on old wood. Do not cut them back in spring, ever. Deadhead spent flowers and remove only clearly dead stems once the leaves push out and you can see what is alive.
04
Yew, boxwood and privet hedges
Shear in early summer after the first flush hardens, then a light second pass in August if you want crisp lines into fall. No shearing after early September, since fresh growth will not harden before the first freeze.
05
Ornamental trees
Late winter for most, but skip maples and birches then because they bleed sap heavily. Those come later, in summer. Cherries and crabapples get pruned lightly and cleanly to limit disease entry.
06
What we never do
Round off every shrub into a ball. Overgrown rhododendrons and lilacs get renewal pruned, a third of the oldest canes at a time over three years, so the plant rebuilds instead of stalling.
If you inherited a yard full of overgrown shrubs and are not sure what they are, send photos. We will identify them and tell you which month each one wants.
