The Best Time Of Year To Prune Dogwood Trees For Gorgeous Blooms
Dogwood trees are the understated beauties of the neighborhood. Their blooms come quietly, unnoticed until the entire tree is bursting with flowers. The colors of dogwood trees are quite limited, with the most common one being white, followed by various shades of pink. Although many people think of the blooms as flowers, the four petals are actually bracts — leaf-life structures that protect the plant's flowers and help to attract pollinators. In the case of dogwoods, the tiny lime-green cluster in the center of the white bracts are the plant's true flowers.
Nonetheless, these blooms are what make these trees distinct. Come April or May, your neighbor's tree may be bathed in color, while yours has only sparse blooms scattered through the treetop. To encourage your dogwood to develop gorgeous flowers, prune it in the spring — as late as June — after it has bloomed. Pruning dogwoods after it blooms gives you a chance to enjoy the flowers and allows the trees to form new buds afterward. Cutting the tree back during fall or early spring would remove buds, depriving you of flowers that year. This timing also promotes healing, as dry summer weather can seal the cuts on the branches. Leaving these open wounds on the tree makes it susceptible to disease, which is why we want them to harden as quickly as possible.
If you haven't yet bought a tree, wait until the fall, which is the best time for planting dogwood trees. Once you plant it, don't prune until the second year. Also, keep in mind that newly planted trees may take several years to bloom, as their roots need time to get established.
Ideal pruning practices for dogwoods
When pruning, remove only about 10% of the branches. Dogwoods are known to be profuse producers of water sprouts, which are thin, weak offshoots from the trunk or branches, that can result from over-pruning, disease, and other damage. (Water sprouts are different from suckers, found on lower parts of trees, from which you can grow new dogwood trees.) Water sprouts won't significantly harm the tree, but can crowd the branches, impact the tree's ability to flower, and make the tree look unattractive. For this reason, don't give your dogwood a hard pruning.
The only branches that need to be removed are those with a diameter of 2 inches or more, as well as any dead or damaged limbs, mainly to improve air flow, access to light, and visual appeal. When cutting off large branches, use a three-cut pruning method to avoid ripping the bark and damaging the tree. First, make an initial notch about 6 inches from the trunk, cutting about one-third into the bottom side of the branch. The second cut will be about an inch up the branch from the first notch, completely removing the branch. The last cut will remove the remaining stub from the tree, at the point where it meets the trunk.