Keeping the shrubs and small trees around your home in shape, and cut at the right time of year.
Prune a spring-flowering shrub at the wrong time and you cut off next season’s flowers. Azaleas, camellias and other spring bloomers set their buds the previous year, so they get pruned right after they finish flowering, not in the winter.
Most everything else, including hollies, boxwood and overgrown evergreens, is better handled in the dormant season when the plant is not pushing growth and the structure is easy to see.
Cutting a crape myrtle back to stumps every winter is common around here and it is bad for the tree. It forces weak, whippy regrowth that flops over in summer rain, and it slowly ruins the shape and the bark that make the tree worth having.
Proper pruning takes out crossing limbs, suckers and dead wood while leaving the frame intact. It looks better in year one and much better in year five.
Once the leaves are down, structure is visible and the plants are dormant. If we are already on your property for a fall cleanup, adding pruning while the crew is there costs less than bringing them back in the spring.
Call or text (984) 212-1016 for a pruning quote.