It’s that time of year, when the winter passes away and the green of spring slowly begins to show itself. Plants begin to bud, and robins begin to appear – both embracing the changes in the environment.  You notice these changes as well and start to wonder: how do I take care of my plants, my landscape, in order to make the blooms last longer or the new growth to better root?

Knowing how and when to trim your plants will not only improve the blooms throughout the season but will also help in the year over year growth and maturity. Take knock-out roses for instance, they will bloom from June through September every year, if properly trimmed. Talk about easy maintenance with lots of colorful reward!

Here’s a quick and easy guide on how to trim your knock-out roses:

Before you get started, grab leather gardening gloves and a sharp pair of pruning scissors. The leather gloves will protect you from the thorns and the pruning scissors will allow for a crisp cut when trimming.

To start, you must identify “dead-heads” on your bush. These are the small dried up blooms from the prior season that no longer provide any benefit to your plant. The goal is to reshape your plant by snipping all “dead-heads.”

Once all deadheads have been trimmed away, look for discolored branches that are no longer green and thriving. This is your plants way of telling you it needs to be trimmed.

FACT: Plants communicate with their care-givers through foliage discoloration. Your knock-out rose is telling you that a branch needs to be trimmed off when it turns brown. Do not be alarmed – it is simply your plants way of communicating to you the health of each stem.

Once you have snipped all “dead-heads” and pruned the discolored branches, your plant should be reshaped and ready for summer! Note that, you will need to trim the “dead-heads” throughout the season if you want your plant to bloom repeatedly. The suggested rate of trimming is about once every month.

Happy trimming!