The best time to be pruning shrubs that bloom on year-old wood is just after the blossoms have faded. Then the shrub will grow new branches and form the flower buds that will bloom the following year.
For example, if you prune your azaleas in February, you’ll have no blooms come spring time, because their buds grew on the wood you’re cutting off.
The below table explains pruning shrubs
(And please bear with us: these lists may tend to ignore the distinctions between shrubs, small trees, and even vines and groundcover- type plants.)
| Akebia |
Cytisus (broom) |
Rhododendron |
| Amelanchier (shadblow) | Daphne (garland flower) |
Ribes (flowering currant) |
| Azalea | Deutzia |
Rosa (roses) |
| Benzoin (spice bush) | Exochorda (pearlbush) | Spirea (bridal wreath) |
| Berberis (barberry) | Forsythia (yellow bell) | Spirea thunbergii |
| Buddleia alternifolia (butterfly bush) |
Hydrangea hortensia |
Spirea van Houtei |
| Calycanthus floridus (sweet shrub, strawberry shrub) |
Jasminum (jasmine) |
Syringa (lilac) |
| Caragana (Siberian pea) |
Kalmia (laurel) |
Tamarix (spring-flowering) |
| Celastrus (bittersweet) |
Kerria japonica (Japanese honeysuckle) |
Vibernum carlesi, V. lantana (snowball) |
| Cercis (Judas tree, redbud) | Magnolia |
Vibernum opulus (highbush cranberry) |
| Chaenomeles (flowering quince) |
Philadelphus (mock-orange) |
Weigela |
| Chionanthus (white fringe) |
Physocarpus (ninebark) |
|
| Cornus coggyria (smoke tree) |
Pieris (andromeda) |
|
| Crataegus oxyacantha (English hawthorne) |
Potentilla (cinquefoil) |
|
| Cydonia (Japanese quince) |
Prunus (flowering almond, cherry, plum) |
