supportacolorful cascade of green leaves alnifolia), viburnum (Viburnum), and that will emerge the following spring. poten�lla (Poten�lla fru�cose), among others. Manyvarie�esofwhatmostassumeare Spiraea (Spirea spp) is a large family of shrubs flowering trees are actually classified as mul�- with numerousgrowthhabits.Almostall stemmedshrubs.Theycangrowintotrees species need to be pruned with thinning cuts, dependingonhowtheyarepruned.The butop�mal�mingdiffersforeach.Some SmokeTree(Co�nuscoggygria)isagood needpruninginthewinter,someinthe examplethatisusuallyseenwithmassesof spring, some twice a year. It is valuable to get �nyindividual flowers that look like smoke in to knowthespeciesthroughabitofresearch thetree. While it looks beau�ful, the blooms to ensure that you prune for op�mum canonlybeseenfromadistancewhenitis flowering. shapedspecifically to encourage it to grow as atree. In its natural state, it is more of a bush. Spirea’s branches drape down to create beau�fulcascadesofbloom,butover�me, Tocutbackonmaintenance,youcanprune they can becometoodense.Itisnecessaryto these flowering trees into shrubs by star�ng thin the shrubs so the branches under the with any damagedstems.Then,prunetothe cascadecangetsunlightandair,otherwise groundabout1/3ofthestemsingeneral. they will die. This is a major problem with Co�nusbloomsonoldwoodsoifyouleave spirea, no ma�er what species. If you cut back two-thirds of the stems, those will have athird of the shrub stems to within one inch blooms.Thenewgrowthwillhavelarge, fromthesoil, they will put up new shoots that beau�fulleaves. Next spring, thin out 1/3 of will bloom next year. Every year use thinning thestemsthatbloomedtogroundleveland cuts to remove the oldest 1/3 of stems to last year’s foliage will become this year’s allow air and sunlight into the middle of the blooms.It will usually take three years to plant, resul�ng in more leaf and bud growth. create a smoke bush from a smoke tree. Youmayfindthatmany“trees”arenaturally SummerBloomingShrubsandSmallTrees shrubs. Lilacs, Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia), Summerbloomingtreesandshrubsrequire RoseofSharon(Hibiscussyriacus)arejusta thesamethinningandheadingcutsasspring few. Observa�onofgrowthhabitmayshow bloomersbutbepreparedtopruneincold youtherearemoreshrubsonyourproperty weather. Summerbloomersneedtobe thanyouthought.Hint:ornamentaltreesthat thinned and cut down to height during their keeppu�ngoutsuckersmaybeshrubsin dormantseason,whilethereiss�llsnowon disguise. theground.Investinapairofwarmgloves If it has a trunk, then consider cu�ng it down with high dexterity to make the job easier and by1/3beforebudbreakandyouwillfind youwill reap the benefits come summer�me. yourself with a short tree that will start pu�ngoutsuckers.Thosesuckersarethe Therearesomanyshrubsthatflowerin beginning of your new shrub. summer,makingitimpossibletomen�on themallbutsomeofthemostcommonones include roses (Rosa), summersweet (Clethra 13