Three gardening tools are used for pruning shrubs: pruning shears for removing shoots and small stems; long-handled lopping shears for larger stems; and a pruning saw for large branches. An excellent garden accessory would be a sharp knife that may be needed for trimming around large wounds.

A shrub will rarely die if it is left unpruned. However, it is often desirable to control its size, to improve the overall shape, or to remove dead or diseased branches, such pruning is basic for all shrubs. On some shrubs growth may be improved if light is let into the center by cutting away old and/or dead branches. And some shrubs will bear larger, but generally fewer, flowers if they are pruned each year. To sum up, do your pruning selectively.

When shortening branches, cut just above an outward-facing bud or shoot. Cut diagonally, parallel, with the angle of the bud or shoot and never straight across. If these shrubs are used as a border in your landscaping, this may take a bit of time, but it will be worth it in the long run.

When removing entire branches, cut flush with the trunk or main branch. Then trim the raw area with your sharp knife, and paint it with a tree-wound paint or any oil-base household paint. This will help prevent disease spores from entering the shrub through the wound, and although not absolutely essential, it is a worthwhile precaution to keep our landscaping beautiful.

Shrubs that have been heavily pruned, especially those that receive such treatment annually, benefit from 2-inch-thick mulch after pruning, plus a cupful per square yard of a complete fertilizer which you can purchase from your local nursery.

Most shrubs need only to have their dead, straggly, and weak wood pruned as a matter of general gardening maintenance. This can be done at any time of the year. You will probably do it when a shrub develops a long straggly branch or to remove a branch that has been damaged by a storm or some other mishap. It is a good idea to examine all the shrubs in the garden each spring to determine their pruning needs.

Remove any dead or damaged wood, cutting back to a healthy, outward-facing shoot or bud facing outward. Then remove shoots that are obviously weak, cutting right back to a main branch. Prune any wayward branches by half to a strong shoot or bud facing outward. Please do not remove any well-formed, healthy wood, or you are likely to do away with buds that would produce flowers later in the year.