How to Prune a Breath of Heaven Shrub

Pruning is essential to plant growth. It allows for the plant's regeneration, prevents crowding of limbs (which can cause many types of disease) and yields a larger bloom in the year following the pruning. Even a spreading plant like Breath of Heaven will be healthier with minimal pruning to maintain its growth in the year to come. However, trimming excessively is not recommended, as it can kill the shrub.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Small pruners

1. Make sure that your pruners are sharp. Dull pruners can hurt a plant by tearing or damaging it. Wounds left by sharp pruners are cleaner and quicker to heal, which is what you want. If the pruners are too dull, sharpen them first before pruning your Breath of Heaven shrub.

2. Take a close look at the Breath of Heaven shrub. Have all the flowers faded and ceased to bloom? If they haven't then you're pruning too early. Breath of Heaven shrubs usually finish blooming by the end of May.

3. Decide on your ultimate goal for the Breath of Heaven shrub. Do you want to promote overall growth and blossoming or would you prefer to prune it back and keep the shrub very compact and shapely?

4. Begin to prune the Breath of Heaven shrub by shearing off small limbs. If your goal is to shape the plant and limit its growth, focus on limbs that threaten to grow larger than the limb from which they're growing. If your goal is to promote bigger and more abundant blooms, take a little off everywhere, looking particularly for crowded areas of limbs that can be sufficiently thinned out to allow for more growth room.

5. Clean up the area and dispose of the pruned limbs either in a compost pile or the trash. Return your pruners to a safe, dry location to prevent them from getting rusty.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember that small cuts promote growth and larger cuts prevent growth.
• Remember that you're pruning for healthier blooms. You can alter the plant's size and shape a little bit by doing this, but don't go overboard or the plant may not survive the winter.
• The farther north you are the colder winters are generally likely to get, and the less you'll be able to prune without risking the plant's health. For warmer climates it may be possible to keep the shrub pruned back neatly, if that's the look you prefer.

References

• Pink Breath of Heaven Information
• The Pruning Books