I have 20 wintergreen variety boxwood plants purchased to use in my foundation in front of a porch. They are taller than I thought new plants should be and thin. Should I prune heavily and is it time for that now? Can I keep them below 3 1/2 feet tall, since my porch floor is that tall.
If I prune them and place in the foundation planting (about 3-4 ft apart?) how often will I need to prune them to keep this size?
How And When To Prune Wintergreen Boxwood?
Filed Under: Pruning, Techniques & Methods, Shrubs · Keywords: How To, Prune, Tall, Thin, Young, Wintergreen, Boxwood, Shrub · 337 Views
2 Answers
Answer #1 · Brent Wilson's Answer · Hi Ella,
Since it's January, and the Wintergreen Boxwood are dormant, now would be as good of time as any to do some heavy pruning. Wintergreen respond very well to pruning so, if they are very thin and tall, you can probably cut these back by up to 50% of their height. In doing so, your plants should then begin to fill out, becoming more dense and bushy.
The Wintergreen Boxwood matures to about 5 feet in height so I don't see why you couldn't keep them at 3 feet by shearing them a time or two a year...maybe once in late winter and again in late summer. I usually stop pruning or shearing at a point two months prior to the typical first frost date. Pruning later than this might force out some new growth that could be damaged by early freezing temperatures.
Hope this info helped.
Brent)
Since it's January, and the Wintergreen Boxwood are dormant, now would be as good of time as any to do some heavy pruning. Wintergreen respond very well to pruning so, if they are very thin and tall, you can probably cut these back by up to 50% of their height. In doing so, your plants should then begin to fill out, becoming more dense and bushy.
The Wintergreen Boxwood matures to about 5 feet in height so I don't see why you couldn't keep them at 3 feet by shearing them a time or two a year...maybe once in late winter and again in late summer. I usually stop pruning or shearing at a point two months prior to the typical first frost date. Pruning later than this might force out some new growth that could be damaged by early freezing temperatures.
Hope this info helped.
Brent)
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Answer #2 · Ella Greene's Answer · Thank you. Helps a lot and I think it will be worth the trouble once they are round and pretty.)
Additional comments about this answer:
Brent Wilson · Gardenality Administrator · Zone 8A · 10° to 15° F
Since you are planting them during the winter, they should benefit nicely from the spring root flush:-)
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Copyright © 2008-2012 WYW Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Gardenality does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Information entered by Gardenality members is not endorsed by Gardenality.com or WYW Group LLC.
Never use any information from Gardenality to diagnose or treat any medical problem.
All information is provided by members and has not been validated or approved for use anywhere.
No text or images on this web site may be used without direct written permission from WYW Group, LLC. Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | Code of Conduct | Credits
Gardenality.com was designed and developed by web development firm, Dot Designers.
Gardenality's founders are proud servants of Jesus and our heart's greatest desire is to live for His everlasting renown.