Garden Maintenance: Shearing
It's not just plants with a vast amount of flowers to be deadheaded that make good candidates for shearing. Plants like Nepeta and hardy Geraniums tend to bloom all at once and then decline.
Shearing perennials in mid-summer my daisy plants have been looking beautiful, although mixed now with some dead heads, I am cutting for arrangements, but have heard I should give it complete ...
Shearing - A type of pruning in which random cuts are taken to achieve an even surface. This is used when maintaining hedges or topiaries.
Smart Shearing
A rigorous shearing back after the plants finish blooming in late spring will encourage compact new growth and possibly a second flush of flowering.
Shearing is faster than hand pruning and gives a very formal appearance. However, shearing can lead to plant health problems. In leafy shrubs, shearing results in weak and unnatural growth.
Shearing removes one to two inches of growth from the entire plant by indiscriminately clipping all twig ends.
When shearing boxwoods, use string to help line up the shape you're going for - like the line of a hedge or the points of a pyramidal shape. Then just snip along the lines of the string to create your desired look.
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Lightly shearing over aubrieta, lavender and alyssum after flowering combines deadheading with light pruning. It will prevent leggy growth, keep plants compact and produce an abundance of flowers the following year.
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The Impacts of Shearing on Soil Structure
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Soil Structure & Plant Growth
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Immediately after shearing is a good time to fertilize. Use your favorite all-purpose fertilizer at the rate recommended on the label.
Shearing Wholesale cutting back of a plant, rather than selective pruning or deadheading. Often used to regenerate plants with many, small stems, where deadheading would be too time consuming.
Remove the old, dead foliage by shearing it fairly close to the ground before new leaves start emerging through the dead foliage.
Tools for Pruning and Shearing
Pruning Shear
As a gardener, your pruning shears will get a lot of use, so it is well worth the extra money to buy a quality pruner.
There are several designs of pruners available.
Wideman says there are three methods of pruning to consider: tip pruning, thinning and shearing. Tip pruning is considered the simplest method, because it involves merely trimming back wayward stems at an angle with pruning shears.
Sometimes it may be easier to deadhead plants by shearing them back entirely. Shear away the top few inches of the plant, enough to remove the spent blossoms.
Although these are efficient for shearing, they often result in ragged cuts that are entry points for insects and disease. Keep blades sharp. If there is a choice in plants, consider using a small plant that will not need shearing.
The species has an excellent natural shape and requires little shearing. It also holds its needles the best of all the spruces, but that isn't saying much, since many spruces dry out quickly.
And here it as after the shearing:
Here are the cuttings all ready to be potted up:
And here they are in their new homes, all dusted in rooting compound and snuggled into pots of equal parts vermiculite and pro-mix: ...
tolerate pruning and even shearing. seen most in mountain districts in japan. Good for an understory tree in a shady corner of garden. Cold tolerant (grows as far north as Hokkaido). Dwarf variety kyaraboku is common in gardens.
And by deadheading and shearing back your annuals through the growing season, your plants will produce flowers well into fall.
Vigorous, rapidly growing shrubs need more frequent shearing than shrubs that grow more slowly. Dense hedges start with the right pruning techniques at planting time and regular maintenance each year thereafter.
Plants with a uniform appearance also require less maintenance such as shearing and trimming. Evergreen plants such as spruce or white fir also have a consistent appearance that can create a dramatic, formal image.
Maintenance and care: You can leave semi-evergreen foliage overwinter and clean up early in spring. Or you can shear plants in fall. Use a lawn mower on large plantings. Spring shearing makes flowers more visible.
Seldom needs division.
There are numerous pruners on the market. Choose your tool according to the garden you are creating. Bypass pruners are best for cutting live branches. Their blades will make a clean cut. Anvil pruners are for shearing away dead material.
All you have to do is set a string line to the desired height on a pole on each end of the hedge. This will give you a guide to keep the top level. Be careful that any shearing being done does not cut the string.
They respond well to intense shearing and thus are most often used as hedges in formal settings. Left alone, they develop broadly conical shapes and make interesting specimen plantings. All perform well in dry, shady sites with fertile soil.
Topping a tree is pruning it for height - shade trees are meant to grow tall. Topping has serious implications re branch structure/strength and overall tree health. Do not attempt to control the height of a large tree by shearing the top.
 See also: Shear, Plant, Flower, Pruning, Spring
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