Garden Guides / Pruning

Pruning Guides

Choose pruning time and cut placement by plant type, then learn how each cut changes growth, structure, flowering, and fruiting.

Browse Pruning guides All guide topics

Start Here

A reliable first guide

Use the foundation first, then choose a narrower guide for your exact task.

How These Guides Differ

Find the guide for the job in front of you

These guides help you decide when to cut and where, because the season and the position of a cut change what a plant grows next.

Timing by plant type

Timing guides explain why a flowering shrub cut in the wrong month can skip a year of bloom, which depends on whether it sets buds on last year's wood or this year's. Tree guides cover fruit wood, an overgrown crape myrtle, and an apple tree that was cut too hard.

Deadheading

Deadheading guides show where to cut each spent flower so the next buds survive. The daffodil guide explains why leaving the leaves standing for the six weeks after bloom matters more than removing the seed pod.

Lavender and herbs

Lavender and rosemary do not regrow from bare wood, so these guides set how deep each cut can go. The herb guide covers basil, mint, parsley, and chives.

Houseplants and tomatoes

The houseplant guide explains why cutting back a leggy plant does not fix the low light that caused it. The tomato guide sorts side shoots by growth habit and support.

Where to start

Start with Pruning Timing Is a Growth Decision, Not a Calendar. It explains how a plant responds to a cut in each season, so the plant-specific guides make sense.

Pruning Library

Choose your next task

18 matching guides

Search and filter guides

Search checks titles, introductions, and summaries inside this topic. Reading depth uses the listed minutes; sorting uses update date, title, or reading time.