High summer cutbacks

Ruth explains the reasons for pruning in midsummer

- Ruth Hayes

A FEW weeks ago I cut back our early spring-flowering shrubs to give them time to grow for next year’s blooms, trimmed a flowered clematis and tidied some evergreens before their full summer surge of growth.

Now it is the turn of trees and shrubs that flowered in early summer, as well as certain varieties that need to be pruned in midsummer to keep them safe from the spores of fungal disease.

While I had my secateurs out I also made sure I took some semi-ripe cuttings of our bountiful Coronilla in the front garden.

It is a robust shrub that produces a wealth of sweetly-scented blooms from late winter right through into late spring, but as they are not usually known for their longevity I decided to take some cuttings as an insurance policy – I can always give some of them away if we don’t need them all!

Semi-ripe cuttings are the next stage on from softwood cuttings. This year’s growth has started to harden and mature, but there is still some green wood in it, so the cuttings are tougher than softwood though not as advanced as hardwood ones taken in autumn.