Sit back and enjoy the show!

Once a tree has flushed with new spring leaves your work is done apart from making sure it is well watered. A tree puts a lot of energy into producing leaves but its payback is to create a surface area that can maximize its photosynthesis. Think of the canopy of a tree like a solar panel, storing energy from the sun. The greater the surface area of the canopy, the more energy will be converted.

This is why pruning a tree when it is in leaf is a matter of last resort. To interrupt a tree when it is in its energy harvest season can only have a negative impact for a tree. Trees are also a lot easier to prune when they are dormant as the resulting spoil is a lot easier to get rid of without leaves attached.

So what about evergreen trees? Well, these are slightly different as they hold their leaves year round but if these are pruned too late in the summer they too are adversely affected. An evergreen will stop producing new leaves by mid to late summer so if they are reduced then you deplete their ability to feed throughout the winter. Early spring pruning of evergreens is preferable, just before they flush.

So all there is left to do is to sit back and enjoy the show! The more water you give a newly planted tree the better its performance (so long as your soil is free draining) and you can add some general fertilizer into the maintenance regime in June & July to maximize growth.

There aren’t many times that we advise doing very little in the garden but the summer is the exception!