Tag Archive for: how to

Citrus Trees Need Sunscreen

Last week, I was visiting one of my favorite clients when I noticed that one of her citrus trees was showing signs of sunburn, which led to me explaining to her that even citrus trees need sunscreen to prevent sunburn in many cases.

Citrus Trees Need Sunscreen or they can become sunburnt like this tree

Recognizing Sunburn Symptoms

You can see the lighter-colored bark and some cracks as well along the branch. It turns out that citrus trees are very susceptible to sunburn.

Why Sunburned Citrus Trees Are a Concern

So, why is a sunburned citrus tree something to be worried about?

Well, when a tree becomes sunburned, it often forms cracks in the bark and within these cracks, damaging insects or fungus can find a nice home.  Frost damage can also cause cracks in the bark.

In recent years, I have had to deliver bad news to people whose citrus trees became infected with sooty canker, which is a fungal disease that affects the branches and trunks, which takes root underneath the cracked, flaky bark.

Citrus Trees Need Sunscreen and often develop sooty canker without proper protection

Managing and Protecting Your Citrus Trees

Several times, I have had to tell homeowners that their much-loved citrus tree was badly infected with sooty canker and had to be removed.  You can read more about the signs and treatment of sooty canker, here. Citrus can have many types of concerns. Sunburn is a concern as well, but you can protect your trees.

Preventing Sunburn; Citrus Trees Need Sunscreen

Thankfully, there are things we can do to reduce or eliminate the chance of sunburn to our citrus trees. Citrus trees need sunscreen.

Citrus trees with full rounded growth

1. Encourage Lower Branch Growth

Allow citrus trees to grow their lower branches. They will help to shade the trunk.  A bonus for citrus trees grown this way is that the most fruit is produced on the lower branches that also tastes sweeter.

Citrus Trees Need Sunscreen painted base

2. Use Protective Measures

Protect exposed trunks and branches by using citrus paint (available at your local nursery) or by simply mixing white latex paint water so that the resulting mixture is 1/2 paint and 1/2 water. You can also purchase tree wraps made from burlap, which can also help to protect them. Avoid using oil-based paint.

However, if you allow the lower branches of your citrus tree to grow and the trunk is shaded, than you don’t have to paint them. 

over pruned citrus trees

3. Prune Wisely

Don’t over-prune your citrus trees.  The photo above, is an EXTREME example of what not to do.

Citrus trees should be pruned in March, and concentrated on removing dead, diseased or crossing branches. Avoid pruning more then 20% of its foliage in any given year. Remember, that the leaves make food for the tree, which will in turn, produce delicious fruit. If pruning leaves you with exposed branches, then coat them with citrus paint.

**See how to protect citrus from the damaging effects of a heat wave – here.

Even Citrus Trees Need Sunscreen to Prevent Sunburn

A little note about sun exposure: I always wear sunscreen whenever I venture outdoors.  Years spent in California at the beach as a teenager, trying to tan my fair skin did not work.  Now, I try very hard to protect my skin from the desert sun.  I do however, often forget to wear my hat as it does mess up my hair 😉

Which type of shrub would you prefer in your garden?

Over-Pruning and Ways to Avoid Them

This one?

Over-Pruning and Ways to Avoid Them

Or, this one?

Believe it or not, these are the same type of shrub.

Did you know that over-pruning causes a lot of problems in the landscape that affect the shrub, water usage and your wallet?

I was recently asked to write an article for the folks at Water Use It Wisely, which is a water conservation campaign created by cities in the greater Phoenix metro area.

The article I wrote talks about the specific problems that over-pruning causes along with ways to avoid over-pruning.  

Over-Pruning and Ways to Avoid Them

You can read the article by clicking, here.

I hope you find it informative.  **If you have a friend or neighbor who has an over-pruned landscape, you may want to forward the link to them 🙂  

sustainable landscaping

A sustainable, low-maintenance landscape is not only beautiful, it can save the use of unneeded resources such as maintenance, time and money.

To date, our series on sustainable landscaping has talked about what is a sustainable landscape.  Next, we talked about what often goes wrong in the landscape that causes us to use unneeded resources.  

In our quest toward a more sustainable landscape, we started to discuss small steps that you can take towards a more sustainable garden.  In part one, we covered plant selection and what types of plants to avoid as our journey toward a sustainable landscape progresses.

Today, we will finish up our series on sustainable landscaping with additional steps you can implement in your garden right now.

Reduce over-crowded landscapes by removing excess plants.

sustainable landscaping

As you can see, there are far too many shrubs in this area, which helps to contribute to over-pruning.

To help solve this problem, simply remove the excess shrubs.  How can you tell which ones to remove?  First, find out what type of shrubs they are – in this case they are ‘Green Cloud’ Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens ‘Green Cloud’).

Then use one of the resources I gave you last time to research the plant, which would tell you that this type of shrub will grow about 6 feet high and wide. So, the shrubs should be placed at least 6 feet apart.  

Using the photo above as an example, start out with the first shrub on the left, measure out to the next shrub that is at least 6 feet away.  Any shrubs between these two shrubs need to be taken out.  Repeat the process until the remaining shrubs are at least 6 feet apart.

Stop unnecessary pruning.

sustainable landscaping

These shrubs have plenty of room to grow in the landscape, yet they are pruned every couple of months.

This type of pruning is called ‘poodle’ or ‘cupcake’ pruning.

It is really quite amazing how much more work over-pruning causes and in ways you may be surprised to discover, click here to learn more. To reduce the amount of resources (green waste, water, plant replacement, and maintenance bills) wasted on unneeded pruning.

So declare your landscape a ‘poodle’ and ‘cupcake’-free zone.  Believe me, your plants will thank you for it and your plants will look much nicer.


Allow shrubs to grow to their natural size.

sustainable landscaping

When you allow enough room for plants to grow, the temptation to over-prune is greatly lessened.

Plants have a lovely shape that we frequently ruin, by making them into ‘balls’ or other unnatural shapes.  This does not only affect the health of the plant, it can also remove flowers.

Note: I am not saying that all pruning is harmful.  Pruning done properly can be beneficial for plants.

So, what if you have a landscape filled with over-pruned shrubs.  What can you do to transform them into more naturally-shaped shrubs that are more sustainable? 


The answer is relatively simple and it does involve pruning…

over-pruned shrub

This over-pruned shrub is located in my neighborhood.  I cringe whenever I walk by it while walking our dogs.

It is seldom allowed to grow any leaves before the landscapers come just about every leaf off.  Frequent over-pruning has led to old, woody growth that is unproductive.  

The solution to transforming this shrub is called rejuvenation pruning, which entails pruning the shrub all the way back to 1 1/2 feet.  In most cases, this will stimulate attractive, new growth that you can allow to grow into their natural shape.

*I mention ‘in most cases’ because there is always a chance that the shrub will not recover from this type of pruning.  However when this happens, it is usually an indicator that the shrub was already declining and would not have lived long regardless of whether it was severely pruned or not.

Below, is an example from my own garden…

sustainable landscaping

On the left, you can see a sage shrub that has been allowed to grow into its natural shape, which is more sustainable then over-pruning.  In addition, I also get a lot of beautiful flowers.

Every 3 years of so, when the branches become woody and unproductive, I prune it back severely (in spring) and within 4 – 6 weeks, it is already growing new branches filled with attractive foliage.

Water your plants deeply and infrequently.

sustainable landscaping

Would you be surprised to discover that 80% of your water bill is used outdoors?  It’s true.

Would you also be shocked to discover that most of us over-water our plants?  In fact, more plant problems are caused by over-watering then under-watering.

So, why waste water, which is a precious resource in the western United States needlessly?

While you can have a landscape filled with desert-adapted plants that need no water, after established – your plants will look better if given some supplemental water.

For my own landscape – I water my shrubs and perennials once every 3 weeks in the winter months and it looks beautiful.

In the summer, I water every 7 – 10 days.  

The key is to water shrubs to a depth of 2 feet, perennials/groundcovers to 1 foot and trees to 3 feet.

So, how do you know how often to water?

There is excellent information available for the Phoenix metro area that you can access here.

For those of you who in other arid climates – check with your local extension office for watering guidelines.  

However, if that seems rather complicated, there is a new irrigation controller that does all the work for you.  All you have to do is enter your zip code, once the controller is installed and it will keep track of your local weather and water your plants only when they need it.  You can find out more about this Smart Irrigation Controller, here.

*For those of you who would like more information, I have written more extensively on landscape watering for desert gardens that you can access here.

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I hope you have found these posts helpful toward your goal of creating a more sustainable landscape.

Our last post will cover the last small steps that you can do to achieve a sustainable garden, so please check back.

Do you know what ‘sustainable landscaping’ is? 

Would you be able to identify a sustainable landscape if you saw one?

Last weekend, I spoke to a large group about “New Ideas for Sustainable Landscaping”.  The community that I spoke to are in the process of becoming an Audubon International Sustainable Community, which would make them the first one to do so, west of the Mississippi.

sustainable landscaping

There a lot of people who turned out to learn more about how to live a more sustainable lifestyle.  I was thrilled to talk to them about what sustainable landscaping is and small steps that they can take toward that goal.

Maybe you are curious about sustainable landscaping and want to implement some strategies toward having a more sustainable landscape.

This is my first post talking about this important subject in the hopes that I can inspire you to take steps toward a more sustainable landscape.

WHAT IS A SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE?

First, let’s look at an example of what I am NOT talking about in regards to a sustainable landscape…

sustainable landscaping

Do you remember when green gravel was in style in the 70’s?

sustainable landscaping

Or how about this one with the fancy gravel design and two lonely cacti?

Technically speaking, both of these landscapes are sustainable, but they are not the model of sustainability we are looking for.

sustainable landscaping

Here is a great example of a sustainable landscape.

sustainable landscaping

So is this one.

Both of these landscapes are planted with arid-adapted plants that thrive in our hot, dry climate with minimal care. What you may also notice is that they are not ugly – they are all quite beautiful.  

natural landscape

The next time you find yourself near the natural landscape, wherever you live – notice how nature does a great job creating and maintaining a beautiful landscape.

Nature does this without any help – no pruning, supplemental water, chemical fertilizers (nature does fine with natural sources of fertilizer) and pesticides. 

sustainable landscape

So, what exactly is a ‘sustainable landscape’?

“A SUSTAINABLE LANDCAPE IS ONE THAT IS IN BALANCE WITH THE CLIMATE, WHICH REQUIRES MINIMAL ‘INPUTS’.”

What are ‘inputs’?  They are resources that we use to create and maintain our landscapes such as fertilizer, supplemental water, pruning, gasoline and pesticides.

Would you like to decrease the amount of ‘inputs’ in your landscape, without having to sacrifice beauty?

Well you certainly can and it isn’t hard to do.  In fact, you can save yourself time and money in the process!

Next time, we will discuss what we are doing wrong in our current landscapes, which is important to know so that we can avoid these mistakes on our quest toward more sustainable landscapes.

What Keeps a Landscape From Being Sustainable?

Today, was a very special day in the garden and it took almost 2 years to reach this date.

first harvest from our young orange tree

Today marks the first harvest from our young orange tree. 

When planting trees, it is best to dig them 3x as wide as the rootball to allow roots an easier time to grow outward.  However, plant at the same depth as the root ball.

When planting trees, it is best to dig them 3x as wide as the rootball to allow roots an easier time to grow outward.  However, plant at the same depth as the root ball.

Back in February of 2012, we bought our first citrus tree for our edible side garden.

Years ago in our first home in Phoenix, we had large, mature citrus trees.  My two oldest daughters (then 9 and 4 years old) would climb up into our grapefruit tree.  We also had orange and lemon trees on our flood irrigated lot near 48th Street and Thomas.

I’m not sure why it took us so long to plant an orange tree in our current home.  But, our youngest kids loved picking oranges from their grandparent’s blood orange tree.  So, shortly after the birth of our granddaughter, I decided it was time to plant one in our garden.  

First Harvest - 2 Years In The Making...

My youngest daughter and son were anxious to help plant their very own orange tree under the guidance of their older sister.

I explained to the kids that it would take a few years to see any fruit form on our new tree.  So, we settled ourselves in for a long wait.

The first year, we did see orange blossoms form, but no fruit set.  This is normal for a newly planted tree, so I wasn’t surprised.

First Harvest - 2 Years In The Making...

Last fall, were thrilled to discover oranges forming on our tree.

First Harvest - 2 Years In The Making...

I must admit that it was hard to be patient at this point.  I couldn’t wait for them to start turning orange.

My husband kept asking me when it was time to pick the new oranges.  I explained (more then once) that they had to come off easily when lightly pulled and twisted at the same time.

*Citrus does not continue to ripen and get sweeter after picked.  So it is best to leave them on the tree until they are ready to be picked.

Some varieties of orange will have a little green color on their skin like Valencia oranges.  However, Navel oranges should be mostly orange before picking.

new oranges.

Today, I decided was the day to pick our new oranges.  My granddaughter was here and ready to help.

new oranges.

She needed a little help, but they did come off fairly easily.

fresh orange

While our harvest was quite small, I don’t think we will ever enjoy the taste of a fresh orange more then this one that took 2 years of waiting.

Arizona Sweet

The variety of orange that we planted is called ‘Arizona Sweet’, which is great for both juice and eating in sections.

To make the most of our small harvest, I will make orange vinaigrette dressing for our salad tonight.  But before I juice the oranges, I will take the orange zest and freeze it for later use, which is an easy way to extend your citrus harvest. I have done this before with lemons harvested from my mother’s large lemon tree.  To learn how, click here.

Do you have citrus in your garden?  What kind(s) do you grow?

Does the fact that Christmas is fast approaching make you think of growing tomatoes?

Of course not.  Our thoughts are focused on making sure our homes are decorated for Christmas, looking for the perfect gift for that special someone and hopefully some holiday baking.

But, I am going to tell you why you should also be thinking about growing tomatoes this time of year.

growing tomatoes

But, did you know that December is the best time to start growing your tomatoes from seed indoors?

For those of you who have grown tomatoes in the arid desert, know that our tomato growing season occurs in spring and fall.

Oh, your tomatoes will live through the summer with a little shade – but they will stop producing new tomatoes once temperatures hit the 90’s because their pollen is not viable.

growing tomatoes

The other limiting factor is that you can’t set out tomato plants into the garden until the danger of frost is past, which is usually around the beginning of March in the Phoenix metro area.

So, to get the most tomatoes, you want to plant the largest (oldest) tomato plant you can in early March.

Many nursery greenhouses are starting their tomato plants from seed right now where they will grow, protected from the elements until March arrives when you will find them on the shelves of your nursery.

You may be wondering why you should start your own tomato plants instead of buying them at nursery?

Well the problem with purchasing your tomato plants from the nursery is that they have a very limited selection of tomato varieties. And, they may not have the variety you want, or it is sold out.

**Right now, many seed companies are having Christmas sales on their seeds including Burpee and Botanical Interests.

Growing your own tomatoes from seed is very easy and rewarding.

Here is how I have done it…

seedling containers

I like to use Starbucks coffee sleeves or toilet paper rolls, cut in half as my seedling containers.

seedling containers

Grab some seed starting mix from your local nursery or big box store.  Some seed mixes have fertilizer already added.  If not, then I recommend adding a slow-release fertilizer to your potting mix.

Wet the soil before adding to your containers.

Fill your recycled containers with the seed mix and add your seeds.

seedling containers

Place your newly planted seeds in a warm area, such as the top of your refrigerator.  The heat will help them to germinate.

**Use a spray bottle to keep them moist.  Don’t allow the soil to dry out.

Once the seeds begin to sprout, put them in front of a sunny window.

growing tomatoes

In just a few weeks, you’ll be surprised at how quickly your tomato plants will have grown.

During warm winter days, you can place them outdoors to get a little extra – but be sure to bring them indoors at night until the danger of frost is over.

As your tomato seedlings grow, you can transfer them to larger containers until you are ready to put them out in the garden.

*For more information on seed starting, click here.

Freezing temperatures are coming tonight and forecast to last for the next several days.

Take a drive down the street in your neighborhood, you will probably see landscape plants covered with assorted sheets, towels or frost cloth.

How to Protect Plants From Frost

Those that don’t protect their frost-sensitive plants such as lantana, bougainvillea, yellow bells, orange jubilee or hibiscus will soon have plants that look like this…

Protect Plants From Frost

In most cases, you do not have to cover your frost-sensitive plants when temps dip into the lower 30’s.

There is nothing wrong with allowing the top growth of your ornamental plants to get frost damage.  You just prune it away in spring.

For those of you who don’t like the look of frost-damage, then you will need to protect your plants from the cold.

**If temperatures are predicted to dip into the 20’s – then I do recommend protecting them from frost because temps this cold can kill a plant.

I wrote a blog post earlier this year when temps hit the low 20’s.  It talks about how to protect plants from frost (and how NOT to) along with the types of plants to protect.

You can read it here…

“Prepping For Deep Freeze”

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I hope you are having a great week.  I must confess to being a little behind on writing blog posts this month with all the Christmas goings on 🙂

I love Halloween…

homemade Halloween decorations

Every year, each household in our family takes turns hosting different holidays.

Easter and Christmas are spent on the family farm with my youngest sister, her family and my mother.

Fourth of July and Thanksgiving are spend at my other sister’s house.

But, Halloween is all mine…

homemade Halloween decorations

We don’t do scary Halloween themes.  The young kids in the family wouldn’t appreciate it and I must admit that I don’t like scary costume or movies.

What I do like to focus on is making family-friendly decorations and making desserts.

Each year, I like to add to my homemade Halloween decorations.  Last year, I made paper-mache pumpkins.

This time I made witches hats using paper plates and party hats.  Simply glue them together and spray with black spray paint.  I added some black lace around the brim.  I am pretty happy with how they turned out.

This year I made homemade marshmallow pops, dipped in candy melts and sprinkles.  

Halloween sugar cookies

I also made Halloween sugar cookies.

The table runner is made of butcher paper with Halloween stamps – I like simple.

Because Halloween is a night for eating lots of sugar, I always ask my mother to bring a healthy pot of soup for us all to share before heading out to trick-or treat.

One of the reasons that I enjoy Halloween so much is the excitement of the little kids as they dress up and get ready to head out.  They don’t want to bother with eating any dinner 😉

Tinker Bell costume

Here is my granddaughter, Lily, in her Tinker Bell costume.  Isn’t she cute?  My daughter made her costume 🙂

Halloween

My daughter, Gracie, went as a medieval queen and my son, Kai, was a zombie like many boys his age this year.

Halloween

My youngest sister and her family came ready to trick-or-treat.

Halloween

My mother and I stayed by the fire pit in the front driveway and handed out candy.

Halloween

My brother brought over my 3-year-old twin nephews who dressed up as sharks.

Halloween

Lily could hardly wait to get started.

Halloween

We spent much of the evening keeping warm by the fire while greeting a LOT of trick-or-treaters.

Halloween decorations

The best part of Halloween is seeing what types of candy you have received.

Lily kept playing with this lollipop without taking off the paper.  I really need to teach her about focusing on the chocolate candy bars 😉

Halloween decorations

We had a fun evening, but it was time to get the kids to bed.

Halloween decorations

And take down the Halloween decorations…

How did you spend your Halloween?

In honor of Halloween, I thought that I would do a ‘scary’ post for all of you.

Now, this post isn’t filled with ghouls, witches, skeletons or zombies. But that doesn’t make it any less scary.

Over the years, I have photographed examples of truly horrific pruning, which are quite scary 😉

WARNING:  The following images are not for the faint of heart…

horrific pruning

These used to be Jacaranda trees. I say “used to” because they died because of this severe and unnecessary pruning.

Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora)

This is a photo of a Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) that was pruned the wrong way.

Unfortunately, this was a landscape that I was in charge of 14 years ago next to the clubhouse on a golf course.

My well-intentioned crew member, thought he was doing me a favor by pruning them for me. He was so proud of the work he had done, that he came into my office and asked me to come outside and see his handiwork.

I must say, that it was hard to criticize him because he was so proud of his work. Needless to say, I transferred him to doing more clean-up and less pruning around the golf course.

A few months later, he returned to his small town in Mexico where he became mayor 🙂

*This is what Red Yucca are supposed to look like when in flower…

horrific pruning

As you can see, you don’t cut the grass-like, succulent foliage below – ever. The flowers can be pruned to the base when they die. If the base clump become to wide, then divide the base much like you would perennials.

This photo was taken of another landscape area about 12 years ago that I was in charge of by another golf course. I made sure that the crew did not prune it 😉

horrific pruning

Last month, I was in the historic district of downtown Phoenix returning from a landscape consultation when I drove by these very sad California Fan Palms.

While fall is the time to prune back – this is NOT the way to do it. Too much was removed. For guidelines on how to prune palm trees, click here.

horrific pruning

This was a beautiful Palo Brea tree.  Unfortunately, it was ‘topped’ in order for the homeowner to preserve their view of the mountains.

‘Topping’ trees is very bad for trees. It leaves the upper branches open to sunburn, which is often followed by insect infestations or disease.

In fact, topping trees causes the tree to grow faster, to replace the lost foliage, which leads to an increased need for pruning. The branches that appear after ‘topping’ have a very weak attachment, which makes the new branches a hazard because they are in danger of breaking off.

**If a tree is blocking a view that is important to you – then remove the tree instead of subjecting it to torturing it with this type of pruning.

Acacia salicina

Here is another example of ‘topping’.  This parking lot in Scottsdale, has trees like this.

Believe it or not, this ‘topped’ tree is a Willow Acacia (Acacia salicina).

This is what it should look like…

horrific pruning

Hard to believe that they are the same type of tree, isn’t it?

agave

I don’t think that I have ever seen an agave pruned so badly before.

The only time you need to prune an agave is to remove the bottom leaves, once they die.

I think that this agave would have looked much nicer if they had left it alone, like the one below…

horrific pruning

It would also be much healthier and less likely to be susceptible to insect attack.

citrus trees

Believe it or not, these are citrus trees.

I could hardly believe my eyes when I drove by and saw what had happened to these trees.

You may be thinking that maybe they suffered from severe frost damage and had to be cut back. But, I assure you, this wasn’t the case. I worked just down the road from this house and there was no reason for these trees to be pruned this severely.

Ideally, citrus trees are pruned in March, concentrating on removing dead branches and suckers.

In fact, did you know that the lower branches produce more fruit that tastes sweeter than that on the higher branches? That is why you see citrus growers letting the lower branches of their trees grow instead of pruning them up into tree shapes.

**Just don’t let any branches (suckers) from below the bud union grow because they are from the root stock and are thorny and will produce sour fruit.

'Scary' Pruning Practices

Much like the Red Yucca I showed you earlier, these Desert Spoon have been butchered.

They also did the same to their own Red Yucca, off to the right.

Desert Spoon has a beautiful, natural form.

'Scary' Pruning Practices

The only pruning to be done is to remove the bottom leaves once they turn brown and die.

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I hope you haven’t been to ‘scared’ by these scary pruning practices.

Sometimes it is easy to get carried away when pruning. But it is important to remember that a plant’s leaves make the food for the plant. Take away the ability of the plant to make food, it will re-route resources normally used for dealing with environmental stresses as well as defenses against insects and disease toward growing new leaves.

This will make your plants/trees more susceptible to other problems, not to mention leaving them ugly.

“Scary” Pruning Practices and the Unfortunate Results

Southwest landscapes are suffering from a widespread malady that I like to refer to as ‘poodle-pruning’.  

Beautiful, flowering shrubs are reduced to round ‘blobs’ by over-zealous homeowners and landscapers.  

For those of you who have read my blog for a while, you probably know that over-pruning flowering shrubs is a huge pet peeve of mine.

Over the years, I have seen many examples of over-pruning and in some rather interesting shapes.  However, last week I saw an example of pruning that caused me to stop my truck in the middle of a busy parking lot so I could take a photo.

Texas Sage shrubs

I don’t think that I have EVER seen such precise pruning before.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the landscaper who did this had a ‘level’ with him to create these precise lines on these Texas Sage shrubs.

Of course, I have seen flowering shrubs pruned into other shapes in my travels around the Southwest…

Texas Ranger shrubs

Here is an example of perfectly formed ‘cupcake’ Texas Ranger shrubs.

over-pruning flowering shrubs

I think these sage shrubs look like a lumpy cake, don’t you?

over-pruning flowering shrubs

The owners of this property must be fans of modern art, which is what these sage shrubs remind me of.

But for me, I would rather see these flowering shrubs rescued from the overzealous pruning epidemic.  

over-pruning flowering shrubs

I think that they look much nicer when pruned no more then twice a year.

Now, is not the time to be pruning your Sage shrubs (Leucophyllum species).  Wait until the danger of frost is over, in late winter or early spring before pruning.

For more guidelines on pruning, click here.  

'Rio Bravo' sage (Leucophyllum langmaniae 'Rio Bravo')

I prune my ‘Rio Bravo’ sage (Leucophyllum langmaniae ‘Rio Bravo’) shrubs once a year in March.

I then let them grow throughout the year and they help to screen out the bare wall.  I also get a fabulous floral display off an on throughout the warm months of the year.  

over-pruning flowering shrubs

I am certain that the landscaper who did this pruning is very proud of their work and I admire their attention to detail.

But, I would much rather see these flowering shrubs maintained correctly with just a minimum of pruning, wouldn’t you?

over-pruning flowering shrubs