• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to footer

Garden Making

Inspiring ideas and information for great home gardens

  • Design
  • Containers
  • Food
  • Gardens to visit
    • British Columbia
    • Alberta
    • Manitoba
    • Ontario
    • Quebec
    • New Brunswick
    • Nova Scotia
    • Newfoundland
    • England
    • U.S.
  • Events Calendar
    • By organizing group
    • By location of events
    • British Columbia
    • Alberta
    • Saskatchewan
    • Manitoba
    • Ontario
    • Quebec
    • New Brunswick
    • Nova Scotia
    • Prince Edward Island
    • Newfoundland & Labrador
    • Form to list your event
  • Reader photos
    • Reader images of gardens
    • Container gardening images
    • Reader images of plants in 2019
    • Reader images of plants in 2018
    • Reader images of plants in 2017
    • Reader images of plants in 2016
    • Submit photo to Garden Making
  • Shop
You are here: Home / Holidays / Quick tip: Make kinder evergreen cuts

Quick tip: Make kinder evergreen cuts

By Beckie Fox Filed Under: Holidays, November in the garden

Decorating with fresh-cut evergreens is part of the holiday fun, but if you’re trimming branches in your own garden, prune with care.

Cuts you make this winter will affect the shape of your tree or shrub in years to come: a cut just in front of an upward- or downward-growing branch will trigger growth in the same direction next spring.

Your own garden may be a good source for a few boughs and branches to use in winter containers.

Tip for pruning evergreens

  • Always make clean cuts close to the base of the branch you remove, without cutting into the branch that remains.
  • Don’t leave stubs; these invite infection.
  • Take trimmings from sections not at eye level and from areas next to walls or fences, if possible.
  • Densely branched cedars (Thuja spp. and cvs.), yews (Taxus spp. and cvs.) and boxwood (Buxus spp. and cvs.) can be cut anywhere on their leafy stems, but don’t concentrate cuts in one section.

More about holiday decorating

  • Cutting your own boughs for holiday decorations
  • Decking the halls with greenery
  • Discovering new poinsettias
  • Designing a beautiful winter container

Published: November 15, 2020 | Updated: November 15, 2020


Sponsor links

Sign up for Garden Making updates

We do not share emails. Your information will be used as outlined in our Privacy Policy.

Please look for our email. You must click on the link in the email to confirm. Check your inbox or spam folder.

About Beckie Fox

Beckie is Editor of Garden Making. She is a Master Gardener and published author in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Search

Reader submissions

  • Enter draw to win a prize
  • Form to list your event
  • Submit photo to Garden Making

When you’re looking for

  • Books for gardeners
  • Containers in your garden
  • Design
  • Food to grow
  • Gardens to visit
  • Growing from seed
  • How to
  • Plant ideas
  • Tips for gardeners

Garden Making magazine

  • Buy magazine issues
  • Garden Making list of magazine issues
  • Garden Making index of magazine articles

Copyright © 2021 Inspiring Media Inc. | GARDEN MAKING is a registered trademark | About | Service | Terms of use | Privacy policy | Account