My redbud (Cercis canadensis) outside my study window, prune after blooming in spring |
You’d think a gardener could rest from
yardwork in January. Not according to Richardson Wright, one of America’s foremost
garden historians, advisors, and authors (1887-1961).
As you lean against
your pillow, lamplight upon pages you hold open to “January 20” in a well-worn
copy of “The Gardener’s Bed-Book,” the furnace blowing warm air from a vent into
your room, you read his concluding words for the day: “All tree pruning should
be finished before the end of this month.”
“What?!” you
declare and drop the book upon your lap. “Richardson must be joking! This is
Michigan!”
Now, you know
better, for you’re acquainted with Mr. Wright’s devotional dedicated to
efficient and wholehearted gardening. Whether it be identifying his garden
tools with a patch of French blue paint, to his passion for cut flowers
arranged in a vase on a table or nook, the former editor of “House & Garden”
magazine in the 1920s and 1930’s speaks with authority.
Even so, you’ve long
spoken his first name in praise and complaint as you absorb his knowledge,
wisdom, and humor seven mornings a week.
You’ve also heard
him earnestly speak your first name, friend to friend, when he repeats his
reminder, “Yes, all tree pruning should be finished by the end of this month.”
More often than
not, you’ve turned to your window, sleet or snow beating upon it, and ignored Richardson’s
January 20 footnote. Come spring and summer, your puny apple and pear harvest confirms the
man from Connecticut knew what he was talking about when his book was first
published in 1929.
Nature cannot change
her ways. Trees leaf and bear best when pruned in winter.
Well, you offer
one last argument—who needs to prune fruit-bearing trees in freezing weather
when you can buy produce from the local farmers market? Perhaps it’s best to cut
the pear and apple trees down and simplify life.
Here, Richardson hides
his mustache and scorn behind a hand, and leaves you to the consequences of your
own neglect.
In time, if you
truly desire to consume the delicious labors of your land, you’ll observe the
remainder of January’s weather forecast for a sunny and calm day.
Meanwhile, you’ll
assess your trees’ needs, sharpen your saw, and have the appropriate ladder at
ready.
When the ideal pruning
morning arrives before February first, you’ll put down your coffee or tea mug
and pull on your snow gear. For you’re determined to put Richardson’s advice to
test.
You understand there’s
more visibility of the tree’s structure without its leaves to better prune. And
it makes sense that diseases and bugs are less prevalent to make a home of the
fresh cuts in dormant limbs.
Furthermore, winter
pruning doesn’t stimulate new growth that may not harden before the sap runs in
springtime.
Eventually, dear
Reader, you suspect your good friend Richardson Wright promoted winter pruning to
relieve the demands of springtime gardening upon his fellows.
In genuine mercy,
he submitted his friendly pruning reminder of January 20.