Arbor Day marks the time for planting and pruning

By By Steve Strong / area horticultre extension agent
Feb. 11, 2004
Gardeners seem to have trouble remembering when exactly is the best time for cutting back rose bushes and crape myrtles.
Rather than following your neighbor's bad habits of whacking too early in the winter season, use Arbor Day as the calendar date for pruning time on these and other summer blooming shrubs.
Arbor Day in Mississippi is always the second Friday in February, and in 2004 it happens to fall on the lucky 13th of this month. Do not let tridecaphobia (shortened from the original triskaidekaphobia, or fear of a baker's dozen) stand in the way of your gardening duties, but if you want to wait until the weekend for pruning chores, there is still plenty of time between now and spring to cut to the chaste.
Roses are grouped into four main types according to growth habit, and these are bush roses, miniatures, tree forms and climbers.
Any of them may be pruned during this time with no harm done, although the one-shot bloomers that flower only a short time in early spring such as the thorn-less Lady Banks' should probably be left alone until just after their bloom period.
Hybrid teas may be the most popular set of bush-type roses, but they are also among the most problem prone with regard to pest problems, and are the ones that benefit the most from annual maintenance pruning. The purpose of cutting back prior to the growing season is to first remove canker infested dead wood, and second to reshape the plant for better flowering throughout the summer months.
In general, bush rose varieties (floribunda, grandiflora, polyantha, shrub, tea and hybrid perpetual or "June roses") are pruned back each year to between three and five main canes of primary growth. Make sure these main canes are the most canker-free, healthy stems possible, and choose them according to the direction you want the plant to grow as new branches emerge.
The main canes can be shortened to as little as 15-18 inches in height if needed, and the shorter they are pruned the less they will require repeat cutting later in the summer. This is especially important for the climbing type roses, which often become scraggly and spindly as the growing season progresses. Climbers require less severe pruning than their stubby cousins, but it does not hurt them to remove old growth for rejuvenation.
Take care to sharpen your shears before pruning, and the stems will heal faster if the cuts are made at a slight angle. To insure new growth comes out in the direction you desire, make pruning cuts above a bud that is pointing outward on the stem this will help prevent crisscrossed branching later on.
Like roses, crape myrtles may be pruned as severely as necessary for the desired height and shape. However, keep in mind that large tree-form varieties like the white "Natchez" and lavender "Muskogee" will never be aesthetically trained into a shrub form that stays neatly below the eaves of your roof line. To avoid this problem, stop planting them too close to the foundation, and choose a more petite shrub variety that grows to fit the space.
Prevent knobby, unsightly branch growth by avoiding pruning in the same spot on the stems every year. Cut back below the "crape-murdered" knobs if necessary, and then follow up with a select thinning of the witches broom" of new branches that appear, for a more natural growth habit that results in better health of the plant.
In closing, Arbor Day also marks the time for the Great Backyard Bird Count sponsored by the Audubon Society and Cornell University.
For the folks wanting to know where all the songbirds have gone, take part by visiting the internet site at www.birdsource.org or www.audubon.org. For other gardening chore info, you know where the MSU Extension Service is located.