What’s the Difference: Natural vs Manicured Pruning

Arizona is filled with a variety of beautiful native plants and trees. Many homeowners, and homeowner’s associations, are choosing these native plants for their landscape décor. In order to maintain many of these native plants various pruning styles may be required.

One of these styles is natural pruning, or rejuvenation pruning. Natural pruning is done by pruning back portions of the plant on an as-needed basis. This allows the plant to flower naturally and grow as it would in its natural habitat. This does not mean that the plant material is left unkempt to flourish on its own with no respect for its structure or size. Pruning for a more natural look will typically consist of simply thinning and trimming just enough to maintain a desired height and width for the location of the particular plant. Natural pruning might also consist of an overall reduction of the plant, one time per year, allowing the plant to rejuvenate itself naturally.

Another style of plant management is using a manicured approach. Both options have their own values and reasons for pruning. A common objective with manicured pruning is to maintain the plants desired size or desired shape. A drawback of a manicured look is that the compact shape requires more frequent trimming, thereby, increasing water consumption of the plant to recover from the injuries sustained from the pruning. Another thing to consider is the frequency at which the plant being pruned produces flowers. Using a manicured approach may remove the flowers before they bloom.

Overall, pruning our plants is done for several different reasons. Whether it is done to train the plant to grow in a particular direction, or within its planting location, or to maintain the health quality of the plant, pruning should be done so that it improves the plant’s ability to flower, creates stronger foliage, or to maintain a desired appearance. With a good pruning objective, you can keep your plants healthy for many seasons to come.