Caliper -refers to the diameter of a tree.

to improve the quality of flowers, fruit, foliage or stemsīroad-leaved evergreen -an evergreen plant with broad leaves that are not needle-shaped.

The guidelines presented in this publication should be helpful when pruning any plant. However, even the most suitable landscape plants often require some pruning. Advances in plant breeding and selection in the nursery industry provide a wide assortment of plants requiring little or no pruning. Plants that might grow too large for the site, are not entirely hardy, or become unsightly with age should be used wisely and kept to a minimum in the landscape plan. The necessity for pruning can be reduced or eliminated by selecting the proper plant for the location. Once the objectives are determined and a few basic principles understood, pruning primarily is a matter of common sense. Pruning, which has several definitions, essentially involves removing plant parts to improve the health, landscape effect, or value of the plant. It is done to supply additional energy for the development of flowers, fruits, and limbs that remain on the plant. Remember that pruning is the removal or reduction of certain plant parts that are not required, that are no longer effective, or that are of no use to the plant. More trees are killed or ruined each year from improper pruning than by pests. The old idea that anyone with a chain saw or a pruning saw can be a landscape pruner is far from the truth. Pruning, like any other skill, requires knowing what you are doing to achieve success. All one needs to do to appreciate a plant’s ability to adapt itself to a location is to walk into a wilderness and see the beauty of natural growing plants. In the long run, a plant growing naturally assumes the shape that allows it to make the best use of light in a given location and climate. Often, tender new branches of small plants are broken off by wild animals in their quest for food.

Eventually the leaves wither and die and the branch then drops off in a high wind or storm. It may be a simple matter of low branches being shaded by higher ones resulting in the formation of a collar around the base of the branch restricting the flow of moisture and nutrients. In nature, every plant eventually is pruned in some manner. By using improper pruning methods healthy plants are often weakened or deformed. In nature, plants go years with little or no pruning, but man can ruin what nature has created. In most cases, it is better not to prune than to do it incorrectly. Proper pruning enhances the beauty of almost any landscape tree and shrub, while improper pruning can ruin or greatly reduce its landscape potential. Welsh, Professor and Extension HorticulturistĮverett Janne, Extension Landscape Horticulturist (deceased)

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