As I wrote last week, timing is important when pruning in the dormant season. Here is a list of shrubs and the proper pruning season for each:

Prune These Shrubs After Flowering
  • Abelia
  • Buddleia, (Alternifolia only)
  • Smoke Tree
  • Daphne
  • Deutzia
  • Forsythia
  • Hydrangea, (Macrophylla, Climbing)
  • Jasmine
  • Japanese Kerria
  • Beautybush
  • Mock Orange
  • Ninebark, (Physocarpus)
  • Pieris
  • Spiraea, (Spring Bloomers)
  • Lilac
  • Weigela
Prune These Shrubs While Dormant
  • Buddleia
  • Beautyberry
  • Caryopteris
  • Buttonbush
  • Euonymus, (deciduous and evergreen)
  • Witchhazel
  • Rose of Sharon
  • Hydrangea, (Paniculata, Arborescens)
  • Crape Myrtle
  • Nandina
  • Spiraea, (Summer Bloomers)
  • Coralberry, Snowberry
  • Vitex
  • Prune evergreen shrubs close to bud break
  • Ornamental and fruit trees are pruned now
  • Cut back perennials close to spring if not done yet
  • Many roses can be cut back now
  • Magnolias, (Evergreen and Deciduous)
  • If you are renewing a shrub, cutting it back to the ground, do so just before growth begins, even if it is a shrub normally pruned during summer. Only one season of flowers is lost and all the plant’s energy goes towards building a new plant.

Of course, it's always helpful to define one's terms:

Thinning: Removal of various limbs to decrease plant density.

Cleaning: Removal of deadwood, dying or diseased plant parts.

Reduction: Reducing a plant in height, making it shorter. Cuts must not be internodal. All cuts must be to a leaf, bud or lateral.

Rejuvenation: Removing a percentage of older, larger leads to the ground, leaving the younger more vigorous leads. Example: lilac.

Renewing: Cut the entire plant to the ground. Examples are flowering quince and forsythia.

Happy pruning,
Peter