Pruning and Shaping Trees and Bushes Creatively
Pruning and Shaping Trees and Bushes Creatively
Many inexperienced gardeners are hesitant to prune or clip back branches on the trees and bushes in their yards, because they don’t know it’s quite easy to do, and they don’t realize it’s very helpful for the grow and vitality of the plants too.
Trimming and pruning has practical and safety purposes first of all. If a tree branch is dead, you risk having it fall on your roof, a car, or even a person. So trimming it off is the safest thing to do. The same applies to bushes… if you have one with branches sneaking into your rain spouts, the best option is to trim those before they create damages that could lead to further problems.
Trimming and pruning will also allow you to shape your bushes and trees nicely though. Some people don’t like a manicured, neatly trimmed look however, and would rather keep everything as natural looking as possible. Unfortunately if you don’t trim and shape a bush or tree in its younger years, it can have growth problems and safety issues as it matures.
Trimming for shape and design can still look quite natural too, as long as you purposely keep the natural shape and flow of the bush in mind while you’re trimming. You can also create unique and unusual looks by trimming, and the results can sometimes be quite surprising.
I have a couple of large bushes up against the front of my own house, and they were quite overgrown and unruly when we first moved in. They’d been neglected for so long in fact, that most of the undersides of each bush was completely dead. Now I’ve never confirmed exactly what type of bush these are, but they’re a lot like standard hedge bushes or boxwoods. In theory, they’d look quite nice if they were cared for from the beginning.
Since mine needed such work though, I couldn’t just shape them into the standard square or rounded shape that most people do. I had to cut a large portion of those branches away at the bottom, and I did the majority of this gradually over a two year period. Once I had most of the dead material cut away, I realized the trunks and branches were quite interesting. They had strange knarled shapes and wonderful texture to them.
So I set about shaping one of the bushes in a way that would allow the shape and texture of those branches to be much more noticible. I started trimming the green pine needle sections into small balls. The first time I did this, it look like I had an overgrown Bonsai tree in my yard and everyone expressed condolences to the bush. My husband would even yell warnings to the bush every time I picked up my clippers! The bush ended up flourishing just from my trimming though, and it grew into the new shape wonderfully. I now have an interesting, unique yard decoration in the form of a bush as a result.
I liked it so much in fact, that I’ve started working on several more bushes to get similar results. And I planted Morning Glory vines around the base of the first bush, and these now climb all over it which makes it even more striking, particularly when the flowers bloom in the early mornings.
Now the downside of shaping a bush or tree in specific ways is that you’ll find yourself having to trim it regularly in order to keep the appearance you want. My bushes are so much healthier now that I find myself trimming for shape several times each year, and they could stand to be done about once each month if I wanted to devote that much attention to them.
So if you want to trim your bushes and trees in a certain way, then look at magazines or pictures online to see what kinds of ideas others have come up with. And drive around your neighborhood too, so you can get an idea of what various shapes look like as the bushes and trees “grow in to” their new shapes. Then start on your own, doing a little bit at a time, and adjust as needed while you go. If you start with a mature bush or tree then you’ll need to take your time with the shaping and pruning, but eventually you’ll end up with a beautiful new look that you just might love!
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