Introduction
During the fall season, everyone takes out their pruning tools and starts working on their shrubs and trees. However, trimming is also a very important thing you need to do during this season. If you don’t feel like it, you can always search for “tree service near me” and get help from professionals. However, before that let’s check out what is trimming and how it can benefit your shrubs and plants:
The Importance
- Encourages plant health – When you trim bushes, shrubs, and trees, the aim is to alter the plant’s growth and shape. While trimming a plant helps you get rid of excess growth, it also helps to promote the health of the plant by stimulating it in the right direction. That’s why it’s advised that you trim hard if you really want to promote the health of a plant.
When you’re trimming and pruning, you also get rid of dead and weak branches and limbs from the plant and help the plant to conserve its resources. This allows the plant to redirect water, energy, and nutrients to the healthier sections and thrive through the following seasons.
- Aesthetics – This is one of the major reasons for trimming a shrub. Think of it like a haircut. You trim excess growth to make the shrub or plant look exactly the way you want. Trimming allows you to make the shrub symmetrical and more pleasing to the eye. You can shape it however you want as long as you’re not inflicting any major damage.
Trimming also helps you get rid of unwanted branches, overhanging leaves, dead and hollow limbs, and more. If you have a well-maintained backyard with a beautiful flower bed, gorgeous walkway, and a stunning fountain, you don’t want hideous and overgrown shrubs and bushes to ruin the overall aesthetics.
- Balance – Unlike trees, shrubs tend to grow without a plan. A tree usually has a firm trunk to support its weight and stand upright and spread around strategically with extending branches and limbs. However, shrubs don’t grow the same way. Their stem isn’t too strong, and the branching is very diverse.
That’s why they tend to lean on one side too much when they are left to grow without any hindrance. An unbalanced shrub poses risks to itself and the surrounding plants and structures of your property. That’s why they should be trimmed at the right time.
- Restrict size – Maybe you have Shrubs for your walls, or you have some of your favorite shrubs in a small container in the little outdoor space you have in the city. While you want your shrub to get dense, you don’t want it to increase in volume and size. Even if you live in the suburbs, HOAs have certain restrictions about most aspects of your property and the shrubs are included. That’s why you need to trim them from time to time to save space or stick to the regulations.
- Allow more light – Shrubs get denser as you prune and trim them. However, denser shrubs block out sunlight and can cast an impressive shade on your backyard. This sounds like a great plan during the summer season. Laying on a hammock while the shrubs and trees cast a dark, cool, and comfy shady for you. However, things get tricky during the cool seasons.
You don’t want a cold yard devoid of the sun during the fall and winter seasons. If you have growing kids in your home, sunlight is very important for their bodies. Sunlight helps your body to produce important vitamins and maintain a strong immune system. With tall and overgrown shrubs by the boundaries and the windows, you won’t get any sunlight in the yard or in your home.
- Structural integrity and health – As mentioned above, pruning and trimming help to get rid of the unhealthy and rotten parts of the plant. However, you don’t want the plant’s growth to compromise its structural integrity either. For instance, if there are two limbs or branches rubbing against each other in the opposite direction, they are putting a lot of stress on each other. This stress builds up over time and can cause potential damage.
Even if they don’t compromise structural integrity, flaws like rubbing branches can also shave away the protective bark and expose the plant to diseases and harmful organisms. It also attracts a lot of animals during the winter season who chew on that exposed part of the plant due to a shortage of food.
- Protect people and property – When you ignore trimming and allow a plant to grow and expand in any random direction, you endanger your loved ones, strangers who pass by your home, and even your own property. For instance, a tree may expand in the direction of your roof or towards the street.
If you don’t prune or trim it, all that excess weight on that extending branch will eventually make it snap and hurt anyone who is nearby. It will also destroy your landscape features, or your roof, the garage, or any other place due to impact.
- Trimming tips – Now that you know about the benefits of trimming your trees and shrubs, you should also know proper trimming tips. Let’s check them out:
- You should trim trees during their dormant season to inflict minimal damage on the trees.
- When you trim overgrown and mature shrubs, get rid of the thickest branches back to the base to promote new growth.
- Rely on hand trimmers instead of electric or motorized trimmers to cut small branches.
- For trimming tall hedges, use a hedge trimmer with extended and angled reach.
Conclusion
Now that you know all about the benefits of trimming your bushes, shrubs, and plants you should get to the job before the frost hits. It can be tedious and quite labor-intensive, but equally rewarding as well. On the other hand, if you want to save energy and time you can hire professionals to do the job by searching for “tree service near me”.
