One of Britain’s best-loved gardeners, Alan Titchmarsh, reckons pruning creates more bewilderment than practically any other horticultural job.
Yet despite what many believe, this task shouldn’t be limited to winter alone — there are four plants that genuinely thrive when pruned during this period of the year.
In a video on the BBC Gardeners’ World YouTube channel conveniently titled ‘Prune these plants NOW before it’s too late,’ Alan outlined why this matters.
The horticultural legend said: “If there’s one gardening task that can cause more confusion than any other, it’s pruning. Generally speaking, one thinks of pruning as something you do in winter when everything’s dormant, when you can really have at it, when it’s not moving and you can’t make many mistakes.
“But there are many plants that need pruning in summer. There are plants which respond to pruning when the sun is shining and all the flowers are out in summer. We prune them to keep them in shape. We prune them to keep them useful, to get rid of pests and diseases, to encourage flowers and fruiting and to generally improve their health,” reports the Express.
View 5 ImagesPlums are one tree which benefit from a June pruning(Image: Getty Images)
Alan began with plum trees. He shared that he simply wanted to trim his back slightly to achieve the shape he was after.
He said: “I just want them to shorten them a little bit so I can encourage it to form a more rounded shape. They’re very handy these, if you’re vertically challenged like me, I’m just taking them back by about a third.
“Oh, yeah. And then these side shoots here, which I can reach with the secateurs. I’m just tipping those back, because all I have to do is producing that classic round, pleasant tree shape. Nice job for a summer’s day.”
June is regarded as an ideal time to prune plum trees to manage their size, while pruning them during winter or spring leaves them extremely vulnerable to silver leaf disease, a fatal fungal infection.
View 5 ImagesAlan also recommends pruning rose bushes now(Image: Shared Content Unit)
The former Gardeners’ World host then turned his attention to roses, a cornerstone of any British garden.
He said: “There’s nothing at all attractive about faded rose flowers, which is why we deadhead. We snip them off unless, it’s a particular rose which has decorative hips.
“The really old varieties have one season of flowering late June early July. And whatever you do, trim them with your secateurs. They won’t flower again, so just bear that in mind.”
This month is seen as a perfect opportunity to carry out gentle summer pruning (referred to as deadheading) to clear away any dead or diseased wood to promote ongoing flowering and ward off disease.
View 5 ImagesTopiary is a “prime candidate” for summer pruning(Image: PA)
Alan explained that topiary is a “prime candidate for summer pruning”, though he does caution against doing it in early summer if you’re only planning to tackle the job once annually.
He said: “Yew topiary is a prime candidate for summer pruning once all this growth has been made. You can snip it off to create, the shape you want.
“If you only want to do it once a year. Don’t clip it in early summer just after this growth is come. Wait until September when you know growth is completely finished. Then your hard work will stay crisp and clean. Right the way so the winter.”
June is regarded as a perfect time to prune topiary trees as any danger of late spring frost has gone, while the first flush of vivid spring growth has matured into sturdy, leathery foliage.
View 5 ImagesThe choisya is also known as a Mexican orange blossom(Image: Getty Images)
The gardening expert concluded with the choisya, more commonly referred to as Mexican orange. He explained that the trees he’s positioned on both sides of his driveway are “wonderful” during spring, but require maintenance afterwards.
He said: “The moment that blossom fades, it puts on a tremendous amount of growth, so much so that it’s difficult to get the car up the drive.
“That’s when I clip it. It looks a bit rough for a few weeks afterwards, but you can hammer it back really hard, and then you will notice that the new growth starts to come and it won’t be long now, another couple of weeks before this is all fresh green again, but I can still drive into my house.”
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The optimum period to prune this shrub is straight after their principal spring flowering has ended, which typically occurs in June.
Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh airs today (Sunday, June 7) on ITV from 9.30am to 11.30am.