A: No, but over-pruning can.

For some reason, many people believe it’s best to prune and trim bushes and shrubs around fall. They think that the best time to prune and trim is when the leaves begin falling, and some large limbs look lifeless. But, doing pruning and trimming on your bushes and shrubs could damage or kill even mature plants at this time of year.

May 12, A general rule of thumb when deciding when to trim is: Prune bushes and shrubs that bloom in the spring right after they bloom Prune summer or fall-blooming bushes and shrubs in the early spring, after new growth has set but before bloom or buds start to form This helps give the plants time to set new buds and flower again next stumplopping.barted Reading Time: 2 mins.

Jul 03, When to Prune Evergreen Shrubs In general, prune needle-bearing evergreen shrubs in early spring, toward the end of dormancy and before the emergence of new growth. Pruning the evergreens at this time allows plenty of time for new growth to emerge, as well as plenty of time for these new shoots to harden off before the following winter. Apr 20, DO Prune Flowering Shrubs at the Right Time of Year Spring-flowering shrubs, such as lilac and forsythia, develop buds that will display the following year during the previous year’s Estimated Reading Time: 5 mins.

Your rule of thumb will work in most cases, but pruning spring flowering shrubs in autumn will remove the flowers for next year. Spring flowering shrubs develop their buds during summer for the following year and an autumn pruning removes them.

Even if we follow your rule, one has to define what ‘autumn’ is. Late fall after leaf drop is certainly a safe time to prune. What this blog post tries to determine is how Estimated Reading Time: 6 mins. Aug 05, For most shrubs, late winter or early spring is the best time to prune. The plants are still in full dormancy at this time but are just preparing to produce new growth. If your shrub is a spring-blooming variety, though, make sure to leave behind enough flower buds on the stems for a spring stumplopping.barted Reading Time: 6 mins.

Oct 05, Badly overgrown shrubs respond well to pruning in late winter/early spring, just before new leaves appear. Managing large shrubs isn’t done overnight. Instead, prune neglected, overgrown shrubs over three years.

Each year, take out a third of the heaviest stems to start new growth stumplopping.barted Reading Time: 2 mins.