When should I prune a magnolia?

Straight after flowering, once the leaves are out, which for the spring flowering kinds is late May into July. Magnolias form the flower buds for the following spring in summer, so anything cut later in the year or in the winter takes the flowers with it. The evergreen Magnolia grandiflora is the exception, pruned in April or May before growth starts.

Why do acers and Japanese maples bleed when they are cut?

Sap is under pressure in the tree in late winter and early spring, so a cut made then weeps for days or weeks and costs the tree stored sugars. Prune from mid July into August instead, when the tree is in full leaf and seals the wound quickly in warm weather.

Can I cut a big limb off my ornamental cherry?

It is the one pruning job a cherry never forgives. Cherry wood heals slowly, and a large wound is answered with gum that can run for years while the dead wood around it invites canker. Thin and open the crown with small cuts over two or three summers instead, and never work on a cherry between autumn and spring.

Why has my eucalyptus grown into a tall tree?

Because nobody cut it. Eucalyptus regrows from the base or the stump with juvenile leaves, but only if the stems are taken back hard every year or two in spring. Leave it and it becomes a tall tree with heavy limbs that shed, which is a tree surgery job rather than a pruning one.

How hard can I cut a willow?

Harder than almost anything else in the garden. Willow regrows from the base after coppicing and from the same points after pollarding, and it can be cut light or heavy without sulking. What it will not do is stay small by itself, and an old weeping willow with rot at the fork needs an assessment before anything is cut.

Do you prune garden trees in my area?

The tree matters more than the postcode: the species and the season decide when the work can be done, so anyone searching for garden tree pruning near me should ask when the firm intends to prune, and why. We cover North Yorkshire and County Durham, from a magnolia in a courtyard to a young oak on a boundary, and every tree is looked at first.

How do I choose someone to prune a Japanese maple?

Plenty of firms that come up under acer tree pruning near me will cut anything, and a maple is the wrong tree to test that on, because it does not shoot back from old wood. Ask when they prune, why, and how much they intend to take off. The right answers are late summer, sap bleed, and very little.

Should I use wound paint after cutting a branch?

No. Sealants and wound paints are not recommended, because they trap moisture under a sealed surface and keep decay in rather than out. A clean cut made in the right season, just outside the branch collar, is what the tree closes by itself.

Garden service

Magnolia pruning and garden tree pruning in North Yorkshire and County Durham

Magnolia pruning after flowering, acers cut in late summer, and the right window for cherry, willow, eucalyptus and oak, plus birch, lime and beech.

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Magnolia pruning after flowering

Magnolia pruning is a timing decision before it is a cutting one. The deciduous kinds that flower on bare wood in early spring, Magnolia stellata and Magnolia soulangeana among them, form their flower buds the summer before, so a cut in winter takes the flowers with the prunings. Prune straight after flowering, from late May into July, once the leaves are out.

The evergreen Magnolia grandiflora works the other way round. It flowers on new growth in late summer, so it is pruned in April or May, before growth starts. Both kinds heal slowly and neither shoots back reliably from old wood, which is why a thick limb cut back into the crown leaves a gap that never fills, and why a wayward shoot is cut back to a side shoot rather than a bare stub. Raise the skirt of a young magnolia by taking one low branch a year, and cut out frost damage in late spring.

Acer tree pruning and Japanese maple pruning

Acers and Japanese maples bleed, and the bleed is the reason for the timing. Sap is under pressure in late winter and early spring, so a cut made in February weeps for days or weeks, staining the bark and costing a young tree stored sugars. Leave the sap to settle and prune from mid July into August, when the tree is in leaf and seals a cut quickly.

Maples do not shoot back reliably from old wood either. A branch cut into a limb of thumb thickness or more stays a dead-ended stub, so work in small wood and take out one or two crossing or crowded shoots a year rather than reshaping the tree in an afternoon. Never shorten the leader of a Japanese maple and never top it: the layered shape is the point of the tree and it will not rebuild. Thin crowded twigs in the centre so the structure shows and air moves.

Ornamental cherry pruning

Ornamental cherries carry the same silver leaf risk as the fruiting kinds, and bacterial canker on top of it, so they are pruned after flowering, from June into August. A cherry cut in the dormant season is the most common reason a garden cherry dies back branch by branch.

They also resent hard pruning, and the reason is physical. Cherry wood heals slowly and answers a large wound with gum, a sticky amber resin that runs for years while the wound stays open, inviting canker. A heavy cut into an old cherry buys a smaller tree at the cost of a permanent weak point. Most garden cherries need far less than their owners think: take out dead and crossing branches after flowering, and open a congested head over two or three seasons. Where a cherry is grafted, pull suckers from the rootstock away from the trunk rather than cutting them, because a cut sucker comes back twice as strong.

Eucalyptus pruning and willow tree pruning

Eucalyptus is grown for its juvenile foliage, and it resets itself in a way few trees do. Cut it back hard in spring, once the worst of the frost has passed, and it regrows from the base or the cut stump with the round, silver leaves that made you plant it. Cut it every year or second year in April or May and it stays a shrub of two to three metres. Left alone it becomes a tall tree with heavy limbs that shed, and taking one out is tree surgery rather than garden work.

Willow is cut in the same spirit. Coppicing takes the whole stool to the ground and it regrows fast from the base; pollarding cuts the branches back to the same points every year or two and holds the tree at a size the garden can carry. What willow will not do is stay small on its own. It has a large appetite for water, and an old weeping willow usually has rot where the limbs divide, so a mature one that drops wood, or one whose roots are heading for a drain, needs an assessment rather than a tidy up. Heavy work on a mature willow, including pollarding it back to a framework, is Ross Webster Tree Services work.

Oak tree pruning, birch tree pruning and beech tree pruning

Oak is pruned in the dormant season, from November to February, while it is leafless. The largest cuts are best avoided: a wound the size of a dinner plate on a mature oak will never close, and the dead wood at its centre is where decay starts. Dead wood, a broken limb and two branches rubbing are the jobs worth doing, and anything heavier on a mature oak is tree surgery.

Birch bleeds like acer, and worse: cut one in late winter or early spring and the sap runs for days, so the work goes in late summer, from July into September. A mature birch does not shoot from old wood either, so a branch cut back into the crown leaves a hole that stays a hole. Take out dead and damaged wood and leave the shape. Beech sits between the two. It takes a cut happily in late summer, when growth has finished and the wound has warm weeks to seal, and it holds its dead leaves through the winter, which is why a young beech keeps a screen clothed until spring. A mature beech will not regrow from old wood either, so shape it young rather than cut it hard at forty.

Lime tree pruning

Lime is the most forgiving tree in this group. It regrows from old wood, answers a cut with a crowd of new shoots, and takes a regular trim without losing its shape, which is why it lines streets and parks and so often ends up cut back to a knuckle of old wood. A young garden lime can be held to size with a light dormant season cut; repeated work on a mature one belongs with the tree surgery side of the trade.

Walnut tree pruning

A walnut pruned in winter bleeds badly, so the work goes in late July or August, once the sap has slowed and the tree has warm weather left to close the cuts. Most garden walnuts are grafted, so keep the saw above the graft union.

The tree is grown for its nuts and its timber, and a heavy cut costs both. Walnut roots and leaves also release a compound that suppresses some plants, which is why a bed of tomatoes under one sulks. Prune lightly, take out dead and crossing wood, and leave the crown alone.

Garden pruning

Most ornamental garden trees need far less cutting than their owners think. A young tree wants shaping in its first three years, while the branches are thin enough for secateurs: choose one leader, keep five to eight well spaced branches as the frame, and take out anything crossing, rubbing or growing straight up through the middle. After that a light annual pass suits most species, and the garden tree care calendar sets the windows out by season.

Where a limb has to come off, three cuts leave no tear. Undercut the limb a hand's width from the trunk, cut down from above slightly further out so the weight drops and the bark cannot strip, then take the stub off just outside the branch collar. Leave no stub, no flush cut and no wound paint. The same work can be carried out on a garden maintenance visit, and the pricing logic is on our tree pruning cost page.

A dead branch, a rubbing limb and a crossing twig are pruning, and this practice does that work on garden trees and on fruit trees. What a garden tree sometimes needs instead is different: a tree taken out because no cut will make it safe, a crown reduced because it has outgrown the garden, a stump ground out after a removal, or a split fork dealt with after a gale. Those are carried out by Ross Webster Tree Services, who cover the same ground as this practice.

Two last points. Check for nesting birds before any cut between March and August, because it is an offence to disturb an active nest. And if the tree carries a tree preservation order, consent comes first.

Tree surgery, handled locally

Tree surgery is handled by Ross Webster Tree Services

This page covers the garden side of tree work: planting, pruning and aftercare. Tree removal, crown reductions, stump grinding, emergency and storm work, tree surveys, ash dieback and commercial contracts are carried out by Ross Webster Tree Services.

Tree removal
Crown reductions
Stump grinding
Emergency and storm work
Tree surveys
Ash dieback
Commercial contracts

They work across the same ground as this practice, and their contact details are on their site.

Ross Webster Tree Services

Questions about magnolia pruning

When should I prune a magnolia?: Straight after flowering, once the leaves are out, which for the spring flowering kinds is late May into July. Magnolias form the flower buds for the following spring in summer, so anything cut later in the year or in the winter takes the flowers with it. The evergreen Magnolia grandiflora is the exception, pruned in April or May before growth starts.
Why do acers and Japanese maples bleed when they are cut?: Sap is under pressure in the tree in late winter and early spring, so a cut made then weeps for days or weeks and costs the tree stored sugars. Prune from mid July into August instead, when the tree is in full leaf and seals the wound quickly in warm weather.
Can I cut a big limb off my ornamental cherry?: It is the one pruning job a cherry never forgives. Cherry wood heals slowly, and a large wound is answered with gum that can run for years while the dead wood around it invites canker. Thin and open the crown with small cuts over two or three summers instead, and never work on a cherry between autumn and spring.
Why has my eucalyptus grown into a tall tree?: Because nobody cut it. Eucalyptus regrows from the base or the stump with juvenile leaves, but only if the stems are taken back hard every year or two in spring. Leave it and it becomes a tall tree with heavy limbs that shed, which is a tree surgery job rather than a pruning one.
How hard can I cut a willow?: Harder than almost anything else in the garden. Willow regrows from the base after coppicing and from the same points after pollarding, and it can be cut light or heavy without sulking. What it will not do is stay small by itself, and an old weeping willow with rot at the fork needs an assessment before anything is cut.
Do you prune garden trees in my area?: The tree matters more than the postcode: the species and the season decide when the work can be done, so anyone searching for garden tree pruning near me should ask when the firm intends to prune, and why. We cover North Yorkshire and County Durham, from a magnolia in a courtyard to a young oak on a boundary, and every tree is looked at first.
How do I choose someone to prune a Japanese maple?: Plenty of firms that come up under acer tree pruning near me will cut anything, and a maple is the wrong tree to test that on, because it does not shoot back from old wood. Ask when they prune, why, and how much they intend to take off. The right answers are late summer, sap bleed, and very little.
Should I use wound paint after cutting a branch?: No. Sealants and wound paints are not recommended, because they trap moisture under a sealed surface and keep decay in rather than out. A clean cut made in the right season, just outside the branch collar, is what the tree closes by itself.

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