Don't Skip This Essential Fall Task For Healthy Gardenias Come Springtime

The elegant white blooms of gardenias (Gardenia jasminoides) make them a sought-after garden flower. But this shrub isn't the easiest one to grow. They need care and support throughout the seasons, from feeding to weekly watering in the warmer months. One fall task that will help you have healthy gardenias in the garden is a gentle prune. However, timing is essential when it comes to pruning gardenias. You need to prune them after they have flowered, but it needs to be done before October. Doing so after October can reduce the number of blooms in the following year. 

You should also be wary of how much you prune your gardenia. These shrubs don't need much pruning. Simply taking off leggy or overgrown branches and shaping them slightly is enough to keep them healthy. Too much cutting back can leave your gardenia shrub vulnerable to winter damage and disease. Take it slowly when pruning your gardenia, always considering every cut you make. 

Although gardenia is one of the plants you should prune in the fall for a spring bloom, you must ensure that you are doing it correctly to avoid any damage. Use a hand-held pruner for smaller stems and a lopper for thicker branches. Sterilize the blades of your tools before using them to lower the risk of plant pathogens that cause diseases spreading. If your gardenia is fairly well-maintained but a little bit leggy, take off any overgrown, old, or dead branches. You should also take a look at the new growth at its base. You may wish to cut some back to thin the shrub out a little. This can help improve air circulation, which in turn will help reduce the spread of disease. If your gardenia is fairly overgrown, you should cut around a third of the branches back to the trunk, and then lightly shape the remaining ones.

When pruning your gardenia, make cuts at a 45-degree angle. Cutting close to a bud or side branch will help it stay in an attractive shape when it grows back. As you can grow these plants from softwood cuttings, you may wish to keep some of the healthier limbs to propagate additional gardenia plants. However, any dead or diseased growth should be binned.