Once established, most evergreen shrubs are fairly low maintenance and need little or no regular pruning. Pruning, when required, is generally carried out in mid to late spring and will normally improve the health, vigor and shape of the shrub.


Many small shrubs such as lavender and heathers are generally short-lived and will need replacing after 10 years or so. These shrubs flower on new wood, so pruning these plants annually will improve flowering and extend their life and prevent them from becoming too woody.

You can prune most evergreen shrubs just before growth starts in mid-spring, after any risk of frost has passed. Pruning at this time will avoid frost damage to new shoots, and any pruning scars will be concealed by new growth.

When pruning summer-flowering shrubs, only prune back last year’s flowered stems, so that the young unflowered stems will have time to ripen and flower by the coming summer. Or wait until flowering is finished and then prune, removing old flowered stems.

Winter- and spring-flowering shrubs: for shrubs such as Choisya, Berberis darwinii and Viburnum tinus, wait until flowering has finished before pruning, so as not to remove the current display.

When pruning any evergreen shrub (except old, overgrown shrubs, see below), aim to remove about one-third of older wood in total.

Firstly, deadhead all flowering stems, cutting back to healthy, outward facing buds or to shoots that have not flowered.  
Then prune out any diseased, damaged or dead shoots using long-handled loppers or a saw if necessary.

And finally, thin out crowded shoots and any badly positioned ones that spoil the shrub’s appearance.

After pruning, plants benefit from mulching and feeding. Use either a general-purpose fertilizer or specialist rose or other high-potassium fertilizer.

If you inherit a garden full of neglected shrubs or have a plant that is overgrown and choked with branches, you can try to rejuvenate it by pruning.

Some shrubs can be severely pruned just as growth begins in mid spring. Spotted laurel (Aucuba), box (Buxus), camellias, Choisya, Euonymus, hollies, Pieris, laurels (Prunus laurocerasus-cherry laurel and P.lusitanica-Portuguese laurel), rhododendrons, Viburnum tinus and yew all tolerate severe pruning to near ground level.

Other evergreens are often best renovated over several years, removing one-third to half of shoots to ground level, and reducing all other shoots by one-third in the first year. Over the next couple of years, each year remove half of the older shoots to ground level.

Following renovations apply a general-purpose fertilizer and mulch and avoid drought stress in the following season.