As the snow melts, and we know it will, we may have some interesting things going on with our buried trees and shrubs. Mice, voles and other small animals may have been using the cover of our deep snow to get at some of our plants. The tricky part about pruning shrubs, especially flowering shrubs, is that we don’t want to prune off the flower buds. This can be particularly tricky when you start talking about hydrangea plants. They are not all the same. Generally speaking, spring blooming shrubs should be pruned right after they have flowered and then left alone for the rest of the year. Summer and fall blooming shrubs can be pruned immediately — now through the end of April — and still produce flowers. This is all based on where flower buds are formed. For the long, long list of shrubs go to https://blog-yard-garden-news.extension.umn.edu/2016/03/pruning-shrubs-for-maximum-bloom.html. This is a great guide and will help you determine, if you are still not sure, when to prune those shrubs.

According to the U of M Extension, “Hydrangeas are a little trickier. It pays to be careful, otherwise you’ll cut off all the buds and the result will be no flowers! The big question is, does the shrub blossom on old wood (they have been on the plant since the summer before the current season) or new wood (stems that develop during the current season)?”

“When to prune ‘new wood’ bloomers: The flowers of shrubs that bloom in summer or fall are from flower buds that formed on the current season’s stem growth. So we’re talking about panicle hydrangeas (H. paniculata) or PeeGee hydrangeas and smooth hydrangeas (H. aborescens). The best time to prune these species is winter or early spring before new growth begins.”

“Trim out dead and crossing stems and prune to shape the plant. It is not necessary to prune every year. Beware — If you cut them down to the ground, this can weaken the stems over time.”

“When to prune ‘old wood’ bloomers: Lacecap, Mophead Endless Summer and Big Leaf hydrangeas (H. macrophylla) and the Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) fall into this category. If necessary these should be pruned in the summer — but NOT the fall. They start developing their buds in August and September. Any pruning that comes after that just removes flowers.”

“‘Endless Summer’ can bloom on old and new wood, but pruning it is usually not a concern, because the plants do not get very large in Minnesota, they may have winter injury and remain small. Usually minimal pruning is needed on big leaf or oakleaf hydrangea. Oakleaf is not very common in Minnesota. Some experts question its hardiness, since it is native to the southeastern U.S.”

And don’t forget about your fruit trees and other trees. If the snow pack is hard, this is a great time to take advantage of it and you can reach those higher branches that might need trimming. You can also use this time to take care of any Oak trees that need some trimming too. Oak trees should not be pruned after this spring in order to let their wounds heal so that they don’t develop disease problems. You may find deer and rabbit damage throughout your garden and as long as a young tree is not completely chewed around the whole trunk, it will be OK. You do not need to paint the wound or do anything with it. If the tree trunk has had the bark chewed away and it goes all around the tree trunk, this can cause some real problems. This type of damage may cause some younger trees to eventually fall to disease problems, insect problems or just because they are not able to uptake nutrients. In these situations, it is always best to take a wait and see approach and by mid-summer, if the tree is losing leaves or branches or not putting forth leaves like it would normally do, then the rabbits or deer have won that round.

Lyon County Master Gardeners are looking for folks to join the Master Gardner program. There are new and exciting things happening as far as training and other activities with the program. For more information about gardening or becoming a Master Gardener, please email me at s.dejaeghere@me.com