Boxwood shrubs are the secret weapons of gardens: elegant, evergreen, and endlessly versatile. Be it perfectly trimmed hedges, fanciful topiaries, or an all-out display of greenery, these tough shrubs are the belles of the landscaping ball. But, just like all-stars, they require a bit of grooming to keep them right at the top of their game.
In this blog, we will examine the pruning of the boxwood shrub at the right time, the actual procedure, and why this is the secret to maintaining the good appearance of your boxwood throughout the year.
Pruning Boxwood
Pruning boxwood shrubs is the art of carefully removing selective branches, stems, and foliage to derive a perfect shape, size, and health in these plants. With the numerous types available, most pruning would take nearly the same approach with only slight adjustments.
Following are some key factors in pruning boxwood shrubs:
Prune away dead, diseased, or damaged wood.
You can shape your boxwood into everything.
Pruning for Density
Understanding growth patterns
Timing of pruning
Selective pruning depending on the variety
Pruning Methods
How to Prune Boxwood Shrubs?
With this, and the critical key features in pruning boxwood, come the step-by-step, explained ways through which to prune these shrubs. Follow these tips and keep your boxwood at its best.
Deadheading is a very straightforward but effective way to maintain the visual and healthy appearance of your boxwood shrubs. Boxwoods are not generally grown for flowers, but deadheading somewhat helps them as well. That would include the removal of any spent blooms, dried leaves, or dead growth that might remain on the shrub.
You achieve this by removing the dead or faded parts so that new, healthy growth can occur, while your shrub will also retain its green color. You can also prevent diseases by removing brown or yellowing leaves and allowing your boxwood to look tidy.
2. Pruning Suckers
Suckers are the fast-growing shoots at the base or off the main stems of a shrub. These shoots grow extremely fast and distort the natural shape of your boxwood, making it to be less harmonious in appearance. Suckers also draw nutrition away from the other parts of the plant, which will weaken the general health of the shrub.
To keep your boxwood in prime shape, you must get rid of suckers the moment they appear. Cut these shoots as low to the base as possible using sharp pruning shears, taking care not to leave any stubs. Regular removal of suckers keeps the shrub in its desired shape and prevents the plant from wasting energy.
Much more precise, finer pruning is targeted at thinning the shrub out by removing selected branches. This serves to improve air circulation and light penetration within the plant, both very important in the regulation of disease infection and encouraging good growth.
Prune by removing selected branches that cross, rub, or are directed inward to the plant's center. Such branches can inflict injury on each other and encourage fungal infection and pests within the plant. Careful selection of branches for removal allows your boxwood to retain a well-structured, open form that encourages vigorous growth.
4. Topping (Optional)
Topping is the art of pruning to cut off some height of the shrub and is a way of aiding the shrub in maintaining its particular size or shape. This is an optional step in that not all boxwoods need topping; it will, however, be very useful in formal hedges or simply regulating the height of the plant in general.
Pruning the top of the boxwood should not be done in a manner that will make it look unnatural or flat. For this reason, there is no straight cut across the top; you must try and maintain its rounded shape, or at least the previous shape it had been sculpted into.
Tips on Pruning Boxwood
Prune lightly and regularly to reduce plant stress and encourage healthy growth.
Always prune on dry, sunny days to prevent fungal infections and disease.
Inspect for pests like leafminers and mites while pruning, and address issues promptly.
Apply mulch around the base of the shrub to retain moisture and suppress weeds.
When to Prune Boxwood?
Boxwood shrubs provide thick, verdant foliage, standing tall as a mainstay in many different landscape projects. Unfortunately, without proper pruning, boxwoods can lose their shape and dampen plant health overall. Pruning boxwoods at the right time of the year can make all the difference.
Here is a guide to the very best times to prune boxwood shrubs:
Buxus sempervirens (Common Boxwood)
Late Winter to Early Spring Pruning: The best time for pruning for this plant is in late winter to early spring. This will enable the gardener to remove any of the branches that are damaged by winter or dead and shape it as it start another season of growth. This period of pruning enables the plant to heal up quickly and renew vigorous growth with the warming weather.
Avoid mid-summer pruning: This is very important in avoiding heavy mid-season pruning of Buxus sempervirens. It will encourage new growth that may not have time to ripen before the cool temperature sets in during fall; thus, it will be more vulnerable to damage. This, in turn, can weaken your plant and make it more susceptible to pests and diseases.
Light Pruning During the Growing Season: Regular light pruning during the growth season should be carried out without undue stress on the plant to keep the shape and size of Buxus sempervirens. This is particularly effective in long-growing-season areas, as frequent but light trimming can maintain the shrub looking at its best without undue stress.
Pruning Late Winter to Early Spring: As with all its larger relatives, Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa' benefits from late winter into early spring pruning. This is the time when dead or damaged limbs should be removed and general shaping is done before new growth starts to take place. Early pruning ensures a healthy, vigorous plant as it enters the new growth season.
Avoid Late-Season Pruning: Since pervasive pruning of Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa' should not be done in late summer or fall. This would encourage new growth that may not have adequate time to harden off before the cold sets in and thus becomes susceptible to cold damage, an effect that could be negative on a plant in its long-term health.
Prune Lightly During the Growing Season: Regular light pruning during the growing season keeps Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa' tidy and well-shaped. Using this light touch avoids undue stress on the plant, allowing it to remain healthy and decorative, especially in regions with a long active growth period.
Additional Considerations
Local Climate: Your local conditions help determine the best time and frequency of how you prune your boxwoods. In warmer regions, you will be required to prune more frequently since boxwoods grow at a faster rate there. In cooler regions, boxwoods usually require less frequent pruning as growth is on the slower side.
Plant Health: Before you ever prune your boxwood, you should take a peek at its condition first. If the plant is stressed, diseased, or not performing well, the best thing you can do is to wait for it to have a healthy state again before pruning.
For Seasonal Growth Patterns: You will need to know how and when the boxwood grows at different times of the year to be able to time its pruning properly. Whereas some species tend to grow much faster in the spring and tend to engage actively in most activities, this early part of the spring contains the most critical period of boxwood pruning.
Common Boxwood Pruning Mistakes
Prune at the wrong time
Pruning your boxwood out of season is one of the major factors that contributes to its health. The late summer or fall pruning often stimulates new growth that does not have enough time to mature before winter.
This new growth is then prone to frost damage, which may weaken the plant and make it susceptible to disease. Prune in late winter or early spring, when the plant is still dormant, so it can recover and start producing strong new growth at the beginning of the growing season.
Over-Pruning
It involves the removal of too much foliage once when it stresses the plant and reduces the health potential of a boxwood plant. This approach reduces drastically the amount of photosynthesis; hence, the plant may become unable to sustain itself.
Such pruning might lead to thinning out or bare leaves and a physically negative look. It is instead important that you prune gradually as it means taking only a limited number of leaves to maintain the health and quality of the plant.
Poor Use of the Tool
Dull or improper tools can therefore harm the boxwood by giving it a poor cut that is prone to disease. A sharp clean pruning shear or lopper is required for an exact cut without further injury to the plant. Dull tools may eventually tear and crush the branches, which then become highly susceptible to any form of pathogen invasion. Always sharpen and maintain your tool to ensure it is in good working order before use.
Diseases and pests are spread by not cleaning a pruning tool from one cut to another or from plant to plant. Sometimes, infested tools can carry pathogens from one plant to another, creating widespread problems.
To avoid this, disinfect your tools between uses in either a bleach-and-water solution, alcohol, or a commercial disinfectant to help keep them healthy, which would prevent diseases from spreading.
Pruning too low
It exposes the boxwood plant to infestation and infections. Further, it could cut off some of the required foliage that protects the plant and maintains its shape. Leave a small area of the foliage above the cut area to protect and support the plant. This technique will be helpful for the health and strength of your boxwood plant.
Pruning of Boxwood under Stressed Conditions
Pruning in stressful conditions is suffering from drought, extreme heat, or when it is suffering from an infestation makes boxwood even more stressed and slows the recovery process of a plant.
This makes all the previous problems worse, putting it in an adverse condition and difficult to recover. First, ensure the boxwood is healthy, well-watered, and devoid of other stressing agents before doing pruning. This would help the plant recover from the pruning process much more effectively.
Not removing dead or diseased wood
Not taking out the dead and diseased parts can cause further problems. Dead or diseased wood on a boxwood plant can provide refuge for pests and pathogens, which will ultimately spread diseases through the rest of the plant.
One should always check any damage to the shrub or any possible disease; and immediately remove damaged branches. Such practice would keep the plant healthy and the spots would not develop.
Not Monitoring Growth
Once the pruning is done, one must always check the growth happening with boxwood, whether or not it bounces back well. Always look out for too much dieback, poor growth, and some other signs that might show problems in your pruning methods.
If required, change your pruning methods based on the response of the plant. Monitoring helps you to bring in changes at an early stage to help the growth of the plant.
Pruning is stress that one may give the boxwood, and it therefore requires post-pruning care for it to recover well. The inability to water and fertilize the plant appropriately may hinder its recovery growth. The boxwood should be watered regularly and in good amounts, which will keep the soil moist but not soaked.
You can go ahead and give a boxwood-balanced fertilizer to provide essential nutrients and encouragement to grow healthily. Proper post-pruning care allows the plant to recover and become more vital.
How to Cut Boxwood?
Sharp Tools: Clean, precise cuts in the boxwood shrubs are essential and can only be achieved by using sharp pruning shears or loppers. Sharp tools reduce the plant damage at the point of injury caused by cutting plus reduce tearing that opens the plant up to disease and insects that might assail it.
Gloves: It is important to wear gloves for protection from minor cuts that might be caused by the foliage or the branches of the boxwood plant. At times the foliage and the branches are coated with thorns or other coarse textures which could irritate the skin or cut it. Gloves protect not just your hands from physical damage but also sap and possible irritants of the plants.
Protecting Your Eyes: Pruning boxwood shrubs can send little branches, leaves, or other debris flying into your eyes and potentially hurting them. Safety glasses or goggles create a barrier against each of these possible hazardous elements so that your eyes will be safe should any accidental impact occur. A good pair of safety glasses is an easy precaution to take that can spare you painful and possibly serious injury.
Stable Footing: Stable footing is a must when pruning, especially if working on tall shrubs or from a ladder. Being on uneven ground or having an unstable ladder might result in falls and other accidents. The process of pruning will be hazardous. Moreover, ensure that the ladder is quite strong and you place it on level ground.
Additional Tips for Healthy Boxwood
Soil and Drainage
Boxwoods prefer well-draining soils from slightly acidic to neutral, with a pH range of 6.0 to 7.0. Such a range of pH will facilitate better nutrient intake and help the roots avoid diseases. If your soil is heavy, or clay-like, or if there is any problem with water retention, add organic matter like compost or peat moss.
Poor drainage can lead to a severe problem called root rot, which can kill or weaken your shrubs. To avoid this, make sure your boxwoods are planted in areas where water does not collect, such as on a slight slope or raised bed. Proper preparation of the soil is the key to long-term health in your boxwoods.
Being that boxwood plants are tolerant of drought conditions, regular irrigation becomes a necessity in case there is successive dry weather. Instead of shallow frequent watering, water in deep, thorough sessions so that moisture can go deep into the soil and its roots.
This encourages the roots to stretch deep and causes the plants to become more resistant when water is scarce. For the soil, that is on the dry side, avoid high watering. Moreover, avoid overhead watering. Drip irrigation or soaker hoses will help keep the soil moist while keeping the leaves dry.
Nutrient Boost
To keep boxwoods in rich, green growth, they welcome a regular feeding of balanced, slow-release fertilizer supplying their needs over time. Fertilize at the start of the growing season in early spring and then again at midsummer to sustain that growth.
A good fertilizer will contain a mix of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium as well as trace elements boxwoods need to grow healthily. Avoid over-fertilization, as this will spur the plant into growth and leave it especially vulnerable to infestations and diseases. The best practice is to follow instructions on application rates and timing.
Pest and Disease Management
Boxwoods are usually hardy but weak against such insects as leafminers and mites and diseases like boxwood blight. Regular inspection helps the farmer to detect their presence early enough before they spread and inflict serious damage.
Symptoms such as discolored or distorted leaves, webbing; and poor appearance in a plant are good enough reasons to catch your eye, for most plants generally will show it if they are infested. Treatment for pests should be immediate once you've detected them with the appropriate pesticides, insecticidal soaps, or horticultural oils.
Boxwoods in colder climates have been known to suffer from a condition known as winter burn, which is characterized by leaves that dry and turn brown after exposure to harsh and cold winds. Wrap your shrubs in burlap or spray them with an anti-desiccant in late fall to protect them over the winter months.
Each of these helps to reduce moisture loss and the effects of the elements. Avoid heavy fall pruning, too, because this invites winter damage by stimulating new growth that won't have time to harden off before frost. Proper winter care ensures that boxwood emerges from the cold season healthy and ready for a perfect start in spring.
