Growing Together: A Gardening Podcast · Forum Communications Co.

Get ready, get set...get pruning!

·47 min·1 clip
Never prune in fall - wounds stay open all winter and increase injury risk.
John Lamb and Don Kinsler, NDSU Extension horticulturist, discuss spring gardening preparations as snow melts and landscape damage becomes visible. The episode covers winter injury assessment, pest damage (voles and rabbits), and includes a detailed houseplant care segment on night-blooming cereus (a 3-5 year bloom cycle succulent). The main topic focuses on pruning: reasons to prune (size control, vigor improvement, dead material removal, rejuvenation), appropriate tools for different stem sizes, critical timing (spring only, never fall), and techniques for specific plants like roses and dogwoods.

As heard by us

A practical pruning conversation centers on late-winter timing, early spring bloomers, and what winter has done to the yard.

This episode treats pruning as a seasonal judgment call, not a fixed chore. John Lamb and Don Kinsler start with what winter has done to the yard, then move through roses, shrubs, and the timing that keeps plants dormant through the coldest stretch.

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Why you'd press play

Wondering whether to prune now or wait for late winter?

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