When plants are properly pruned, it's hard to tell that they've.

Jun 15, Snowball bush viburnum is a popular and easy-to-grow landscape plant native to Europe and Asia. This large, moderately-quick growing shrub forms an upright dense mound and features 3-inch round clusters of flowers (resembling, of course, a snowball) that start out apple-green and morph to white, eventually fading to a rosy color similar to hydrangeas.

Apr 26, Propagating Chinese Snowball Viburnum. Chinese snowball viburnum can be propagated by softwood cuttings. For best results, take cuttings in the spring from shoots with vigorous new growth.

Using clean, sharp pruning shears or scissors, take angled cuttings that are inches long. Clean any leaves off of the bottom of the cutting to expose. Now, if your Clematis is in Groups 1 or 2, you should also do a special second-year pruning. Not everyone does this, but if you want a lush, many-stemmed, bloom-happy plant, the second year you should prune all stems back to about 3 feet from the ground in late winter/early spring. Mar 15, Dormant pruning is especially important for apples, pears, and crabapples because pruning wounds during the growing season expose the trees to a bacterial disease called fireblight.

Test Garden Tip: To control the spread of diseases while pruning, dip your pruning shears in rubbing alcohol or a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water. Pruning young shrubs is not as critical as pruning young trees, but take care to use the same principles to encourage good branch structure.

Container-grown shrubs require little pruning. When planting deciduous shrubs, thin out branches for good spacing and.