Creating a beautiful garden requires interest and commitment. However, without any knowledge, the beauty of the garden will not last long. Trimming your plants is one of the important chores in your garden.

Importance of Trimming Method

Plants need abundance of nutritious food supply and adequate water in acquiring a healthy growth with a process called photosynthesis. Too many branches and excessive leaves disrupt an efficient distribution of nutrient to every part of the plant. Therefore trimming is a very important activity to strengthen the branches and prevent it from damage or disease. Besides that, trimming is required to remove the old branches or dead ones for encouragement to the plant to grow healthy.

Tips

Trimming is vital in plant parentage. It helps the plant to continue growing and shaping in a better way. Among the suitable trimming tools are shears, loppers and trimming saw.

Trimming shrubs

Shrubs normally have a lot of foliages and branches. Therefore trimming is deeming necessary to remove the dead branches. Begin trimming with the lower portions of the branches in shaping the trees and trims the top portion to maintain the symmetrical shape. For big trees and ones which have flowers like Bougainvillea sp. cut 12 to 18 inches of excess branches or non productive every time after blooming season.

Picture 1 Pirea thunbergii is too dense and grows unevenly prior to trimming. It needs to have trimming done quite frequently with the correct method and tools to maintain the nice looks.       Picture 2 Trimming method was done by cutting the old branches down to one. For plants that grow too dense, cut the lowest portion of the plant so that it will grow handsomely at the top.

Picture 1 Santolina Chamaesyparissus is a type of shrubs that grow unevenly and look messy. The best trimming method is when the plant is still young     . Picture 2 Begin trimming at the height of 10cm from the ground. After trimming, the plants will look small but it will shape up nicely after one month.

Trimming climbing plants

Climbing plants like Bauhinia Blakaena and Morning Glory use its hook on the branches as a support to gain sunlight. It produces flowers about 4 to 8 pieces according the species and is suitable to be matched on a pergola or arch in the verandah or patio. Trimming is done in 3 phases.

1. Blooming season
When blooming season arrives, the combination of flowers and other leaves will prevent the other part of the plant from receiving enough sunlight. This will effect the plant as a whole. The dead flowers and leaves should be removed and the branches should be cut off.

2. Dry season
New plants will grow after blooming season. Branches should be trimmed before new growth starts. Cut the old portion up to 12 inches for new growth to be stronger and steadier.

3. Renewal of Growth
Most climbing plants will grow and bloom when the climate is hot and dry. Do the trimming at a smaller scale at the beginning of the blooming season and more often after the blooming season for healthier growth of branches for next growing season. After second growth, trim all the dead and old branches.