If you can see your trees and you are not blasted with snow or ice, it is a good time to trim your trees for spring and summer growth. Trimming your trees can help give them life in spring with fuller leaves and fruit. It is also wise to trim trees and shrubs that are especially close to a home. Overgrown trees and shrubs can damage the exterior of your home. During storms throughout the year, trees and shrubs can bang, scratch and damage the exterior of your home. Damage to exterior walls, gutters, roofs, and even windows can occur during any type of storm. Pruning trees and shrubs close to your front door and around windows is also a good idea to prevent areas where burglars can hide.
Pruning is also healthy for your trees and shrubs, and allows you to create the desired shape of these landscape elements. Trees that are not pruned can become ugly, damaged, and pose more potential problems for the structure of the home. Dead branches can break off and cause damage to your home’s structure or even hurt a family member or guest that might be over your home for a visit.
How to prune trees and shrubs
The tools you need to prune trees and shrubs depend on how old, how big and what kind of trees and shrubs you have in your yard. Young saplings can be pruned with hand shears, medium sized trees with lopping shears, and larger trees with a telescoping tree pruner. However, some very large trees might require chain saws or professionals to come in and make the necessary removal of branches. Shrubs are usually pruned with hedge shears.
A large part of pruning is also personal preference over how you want your tree or shrubs to look in the context of your overall landscaping. Many people craft designs with their shrubs like that of Edward Scissorhands which might require more tools and patience to create your works of art.
Learn how some more details of trimming trees might help you in your efforts to create a safe and spectacular yard.
