March is pruning month!

There’s plenty to do in the garden again in March, especially when it comes to pruning. You can prune a wide variety of plants and shrubs in March. You should have already pruned deciduous trees and fruit trees during the winter. Now it’s time to tackle a wide variety of shrubs, ornamental grasses, and perennials. At the beginning of the month, prune plants that are hardy and those that need to be cut back severely. Later in March, you should also prune plants that you’re shaping and plants that might suffer frost damage if you prune them too early.

Which plants should you prune in March?

Below is an overview of the plants you can prune this month. Click on the links for more information about pruning these plants—or even complete pruning instructions! This makes pruning easy and ensures your garden will be ready for the new growing season. Don’t prune fruit trees in March (there’s a high risk of cutting away the blossoms). It’s usually best to wait a little longer before pruning hedge plants as well.

Pruning: Early March (or late February)

• Pruning Panicle Hydrangeas and Annabelle Hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata and arborescens)
• Pruning ornamental grasses such as fountain grass (Pennisetum), pampas grass (Cortaderia), purple moor grass (Molinia), Japanese silver grass (Miscanthus), and ostrich grass (Calamagrostis)
• Dogwood (Cornus)
• Pruning Perennials: Old Stems and Dead Parts
• Willow (Salix)
• You might also want to prune the wisteria (if you haven't gotten around to it yet)

Pruning: Mid-March

• Pruning Roses (Shrub Roses)
• Elderberry (Sambucus nigra)
• Smoke Tree (Cotinus)
• Pruning the Butterfly Bush (Buddleja davidii)

Pruning: Late March (or early April)

• Pruning Lavender (Lavandula)
• Pruning an Olive Tree (Olea europaea)
• Pruning evergreen shrubs such as camellia, photinia, evergreen viburnum (Viburnum tinus), holly (Ilex aquifolium), and mahonia
• Pruning spherical trees such as the globe catalpa and globe acacia