How do you prune an overgrown shrub?

Winter is usually the best time. If you live in an area with distinct winters, the time when shrubs have lost their leaves and become dormant is an excellent time to prune them.

Without the leaves, you can easily see the branching structure of the shrub and decide what to cut.

Posts by Lee Nelson.

Dec 28, Cut out 25% of the old stems to ground level each year to keep the shrub looking tidy, and youthful. Ribes – SHould be pruned in March or April at the latest to give it a full growing season. Hard Pruning and Rejuvenation of old shrubs – End of March Easly AprilEstimated Reading Time: 9 mins. Aug 05, For most shrubs, late winter or early spring is the best time to prune.

Large, overgrown lilacs, honeysuckles, dogwoods, spireas, and forsythias may be pruned in this manner.

The plants are still in full dormancy at this time but are just preparing to produce new growth. If your shrub is a spring-blooming variety, though, make sure to leave behind enough flower buds on the stems for a spring treeclear.barted Reading Time: 6 mins. Apr 20, DO Prune Flowering Shrubs at the Right Time of Year Spring-flowering shrubs, such as lilac and forsythia, develop buds that will display the following year during the Estimated Reading Time: 5 mins.

Apr 23, The best time for pruning depends upon the plant. Trim early-spring flowering shrubs right after they bloom. Clip summer flowering plants in winter or early spring. Trim nonflowering plants after Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins.