Pruning Evergreens

Written by April Reinhardt (last updated May 10, 2023)

Usually, when we think of evergreens, conifers such as pine, cedar, and spruce trees and bushes come to mind. But did you know that hemlock, holly, rainforest trees, and Eucalypts are also evergreens? All of those plant species are evergreens, meaning that they retain their leaves all year long, in all climates. Yet, evergreens require different pruning methods, depending upon the variety. A pruning method used on a conifer might permanently disfigure a Eucalypts, and vice versa. Before you attempt to prune your evergreens, check with your local Cooperative Extension office for help in determining the best pruning method. Here are some pruning tips appropriate for most evergreen plants:

  • While it may be tempting to use power hedge clippers on your evergreens, scissor action hand shears are recommended. If you have tall evergreens, buy a pole pruner at your local home improvement store.
  • Remove any dead, injured, or diseased wood by pulling apart the branches. Cut away all branches with visible wounds or discoloration, and completely trim away brown foliage.
  • Thin the plants by removing a few middle branches, until you can see daylight through the plant. Thinning your evergreens will help air and light to circulate through the plant, improving current growth, and encouraging new growth.
  • A pruning method known as "heading" should be used on evergreens wherein you cut a branch to just above a bud or other branch. Secondary branches growing off a main branch should be opposing. That is, they should alternate each side up the shaft of the main branch. Cut away all secondary branches not opposing evenly.
  • If you've trimmed your evergreens so many times that you have a massive network of tiny branches growing from a single, secondary branch, cut those tiny branches away entirely.
  • Reach deep into the middle of the evergreen and cut away all crossing growth. Doing so will force new growth, making the plant bushy and full.
  • If you have evergreen shrubs that seem to have grown out of control, trim them back by pruning last year's growth by one half, or more.

Always prune your evergreens in the early spring, making sure that you rake under the plants to remove the trimmings and dead branches and leaves. If you have flowers growing under your evergreens, wait until they have bloomed before pruning your evergreens. After pruning, mulch your evergreens to at least four inches. Mulch helps plants retain water, prevents weed growth, and encourages root health.

Author Bio

April Reinhardt

An admin­istrator for a mutual fund man­age­ment firm, April deals with the writ­ten word daily. She loves to write and plans to author a memoir in the near future. April attend­ed More­head State Uni­ver­sity to pursue a BA degree in Ele­men­tary Edu­ca­tion. ...

MORE FROM APRIL

Making Your Flower Garden the Right Size

When planning a flower garden, determine the size of your flower bed based upon other landscape elements including size, ...

Discover More

Picking a Hair Salon

When choosing a new hair salon, call to make an appointment for a tour. Get a feel for the atmosphere of the place, and ...

Discover More

When to Use Post-Emergent Herbicides

In order for the post-emergent to be effective, it is important that the herbicide come into contact with the plant ...

Discover More
More Gardening Tips

Pruning Evergreen Trees

Evergreen trees can provide some much needed, and low maintenance, greenery to your landscape. That being said, even ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Receive an e-mail several times each week with a featured gardening tip. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is one minus 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Receive an e-mail several times each week with a featured gardening tip. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)