Gardenias bushes are one of the beautiful things you can add and plant to your garden, and many warm weather gardeners would agree! They have rich and dark green leaves with snowy soft blossoms, giving a positive impression in its looks and scent.
But such beauty isn’t achieved overnight! Gardenias require proper care and maintenance for them to grow the way they do and continue blooming flowers all-year-round. And one of the things you’ll need to do is to prune them.
You may have wondered, “can I prune gardenias in winter?” Or will you need to prune them another time to prevent the cold winter frost? Read on to learn all about pruning gardenias!
Can I Prune Gardenias in Winter?
While gardenias are beautiful, they are just like many kinds of shrubs, growing quickly and spreading. Because of this, gardenias benefit from the occasional pruning. While this won’t affect the plant’s health directly, nor is it an absolute necessity, this helps keep the shrub shapely and maintains its size for your garden area.
You won’t need to prune your gardenia bushes daily. Some may even prune and trim it once a year or so, just to keep the size manageable and looking attractive. It can also encourage healthy growth and new flowering.
With that in mind, there are certain times of the year better for pruning compared to others.
I once had someone advise me to prune my gardenia blooms during the winter or early spring without eliminating any growing blooms, cutting it back as far as needed. This is so that it can help with new growth come springtime.
But this was ill advice I do NOT recommend doing. You shouldn’t prune your gardenias during the cold winter!
Why?
Gardenias are spring bloomers, blossoming on old wood. This means that the flower buds would form the year before opening into flowers. That’s why fall and winter pruning is dangerous, as you might accidentally snip off flower buds before they even get to develop, leaving your shrubs with fewer flowers come springtime.
Furthermore, pruning before or during winter will mean that the pruning wounds will need to heal in colder and damper weather, which isn’t good for overall plant health. And when you prune during the cold weather, it reduces the winter protection the shrubs need in areas that would experience frost, which ends up in its damage and poor health.
When Should I Prune Gardenias?
Now that you know when NOT to prune gardenias, when should you be pruning them anyway?
The safest time to prune your gardenias is during the summer, right after the blooms begin fading. Aim for times between spring blooming and new bud development if you want to trim the shrub for cosmetic purposes.
This is the best time to remove the old shoots as well, which will stimulate new flower buds to grow, which will then blossom in the following year. You should also remove old and heavy branches close to the garden ground, which will promote new branch growth. You need to respect the flower bud development for them to grow and bloom, looking beautiful and staying healthy for the next years to come.
But besides knowing when to prune gardenias, you also have to know how to do so properly! Do you want to learn more about pruning gardenias properly? Check out this informative video:
Wrapping It Up
An important thing to do for gardenias is to trim and prune them for them to flourish and grow and flower. However, you can’t just prune them anytime! You’ll need to make sure you time your pruning and trimming to ensure that they won’t succumb to disease or damage. And if you’re thinking of pruning them in the winter, I highly recommend against it, though there are ways to care for your gardenias during the colder times.
I hope that this article answered your question, “can I prune gardenias in winter?” Now that you know the answer, do make sure to prune your gardenias at an appropriate time and to follow proper procedures in pruning it.