Proper pruning is essential for maintaining attractive and healthy trees, bushes and shrubs, local gardening experts note, Sadly, however, it’s one of the least understood and most daunting aspects of landscape maintenance for most homeowners.
From 10:30 a.m.-noon on Saturday, April 2, Clallam County Master Gardeners Keith Dekker and Gordon Clark provide a primer on pruning at the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden, 2711 Woodcock Road.
Their presentation is part of the Clallam County Master Gardener’s Digging Deeper educational series.
They will describe and demonstrate basic pruning cuts and how plants respond to those cuts, and will outline pruning techniques for all plant groups including mounding shrubs, cane growers, trees and tree-like shrubs.
The duo will also discuss the timing of pruning as well as tool preferences, safety and care. After hearing this presentation, program organizers say, attendees will have an understanding of how pruning affects their plants and which pruning cuts are necessary to achieve their pruning objectives.
“Successful Pruning” will be held in-person at the demonstration garden; the location allows presenters to demonstrate pruning techniques for a wide variety of plant groups. Attendees will be asked to mask regardless of COVID vaccination status and maintain an appropriate distance from others. Community members should stay home if they are sick, organizers say. Physical presence at the demonstration garden will be considered an attestation that the individual is symptom-free and has not had a recent known exposure to COVID, they said.
Attendees are encouraged to check the Clallam County Master Gardener online calendar for updates about the location of the talk at extension.wsu.edu/clallam/master-gardener-calendar.
About the presenters
Dekker has been involved in horticulture for more than 45 years. For the last 30 years, his career has focused on the comprehensive care of residential landscapes in the Pacific Northwest. He joined Clallam County Master Gardeners in 2017 and was named the 2017 Intern of the Year. Dekker has served as board president of the Clallam County Master Gardener Foundation.
Dekker contributes to his community by teaching classes and giving talks that promote best practices for successful, sustainable gardening.
Clark is a self-employed landscape gardener with a focus on aesthetic pruning. He completed a one-year Environmental Horticultural program at Lake Washington Institute of Technology in 1999. He became a Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association certified horticulturist in 2001 and an International Society of Arboriculture certified arborist in 2004.
Clark has lectured on a variety of gardening topics over the years and joined Clallam County Master Gardeners in 2021.
About the presentations
Digging Deeper presentations are free and open to the public. Digging Deeper presentations are held from 10:30 a.m.-noon on the first and third Saturdays of most months and cover basic gardening topics relevant to most home gardeners. Sessions are scheduled for 90-minutes to allow for demonstrations and questions from attendees.
For more about “Successful Pruning” or the Digging Deeper series, call 360-477-0116.
