Trees and shrubs bring more than just color to your commercial property in Greater Chicago.
They add color and greenery that people can enjoy as they shop at your retail center or work at your office park. They can ease the nerves and worries of your healthcare patients and stressed-out medical professionals. They can bring color and texture to your industrial facility or homeowners’ association grounds.
And in all of these commercial property types, trees and shrubs bring plenty of other benefits. Placed correctly and maintained well, these plants can lower energy bills, manage stormwater by reducing erosion and flooding, sequester carbon, and provide food and shelter for wildlife. Trees and shrubs can even increase spending at your retail center or boost recruitment and retention at your multifamily property.
But to continue providing these benefits, your trees and shrubs must remain healthy and strong.
In addition to proper water and fertilization, your trees and shrubs require regular pruning. Some trimmings occur during the growing season to keep plants tidy and remove any dead, dying, or broken branches. Proper commercial pruning techniques not only enhance the aesthetic appeal of commercial properties but also promote the long-term health and vitality of trees, shrubs, and ornamental plants.
Let’s look at plant pruning techniques and discuss how they work so you can best understand their purposes and many benefits.
Summer pruning serves multiple purposes in commercial landscape maintenance.
It helps shape and define the visual appearance of trees and shrubs, creating a neat and manicured look that enhances the overall aesthetic appeal of the property.
Additionally, summer pruning promotes air circulation and sunlight penetration within the canopy, reducing the risk of disease and pest infestations. By removing dead or diseased branches and encouraging new growth, summer pruning rejuvenates plants and stimulates vigorous, healthy growth.
Here, we’ll dive deeper into the important techniques involved in warm-weather plant pruning.
You want to hire a commercial landscape professional who uses the right tools to do summer pruning work. This is an important first step.
These tools include high-quality pruning shears, loppers, pruning saws, and pole pruners suitable for the size and type of plants you have on your site.
Sharp, well-maintained tools ensure clean cuts and minimize stress on plants, promoting faster healing and reducing the risk of disease transmission.
Remove spent flowers from annuals, perennials, and flowering shrubs to encourage continuous blooming throughout the summer months is one aspect of warm-weather plant pruning.
Deadheading redirects the plant's energy from seed production to new flower production, prolonging the flowering period and enhancing visual appeal.
Summer pruning also involves thinning out dense canopies of trees to improve air circulation and reduce wind resistance, mitigating the risk of storm damage.
This process involves removing crossing or rubbing branches, water sprouts, and suckers to maintain a well-balanced and structurally sound canopy. Proper pruning cuts minimize damage and promote rapid healing.
As part of proper plant pruning techniques, your commercial landscape professional will prune shrubs to maintain the desired size and shape, removing overgrown or leggy branches to promote dense, compact growth.
Your shrubs can maintain a natural form through the removal of any damaged, diseased, or dead wood. But you’ll want to pay attention to flowering shrubs to avoid cutting off next year's flower buds.
Another proper plant pruning technique involves guiding the growth of flowering vines.
To do this, prune selectively to encourage upward growth and prevent overcrowding. Remove excessive growth and redirect vines along trellises or support structures to create visually appealing displays on your commercial landscape.
Also, prune back overly vigorous shoots to maintain manageable size and prevent damage to structures.
For neglected or overgrown commercial landscapes, summer pruning offers an opportunity for renovation pruning to rejuvenate plants and restore their health and vigor.
To do this, gradually remove overgrown or damaged branches over multiple seasons to minimize stress on plants and promote gradual recovery.
While using these proper plant pruning techniques, you also want to make sure your commercial grounds management team follows some best practices.
First, these professionals will avoid pruning during periods of extreme heat or drought to minimize stress on plants.
They will make clean cuts at correct angles to promote rapid healing.
They will also disinfect pruning tools between cuts and between trees and shrubs to prevent the spread of diseases.
Finally, they’ll monitor your trees and shrubs regularly throughout the summer to identify and address any pruning needs promptly.
You know you want to take care of your commercial property all year long – trees and shrubs included.
While it can be easy to forget about the possibility of summer pruning, knowing it’s an option could be helpful and transformative for your commercial facility.
We know you have a lot of concerns when managing your commercial property. If you find you have questions about warm-weather plant pruning or what we can do to help your property, let KD Landscape know. We can help answer all of your questions, saving you time, money, and headaches along the way.
Want to learn more about our commercial property services in Greater Chicago, including summer pruning? Get started today with a consultation. We’ll review your options together so you can feel confident and make a great choice.