How to Prune Shrubs | Ask Roger | Ask This Old House

This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook shows the right way to prune shrubs. (See steps below.) SUBSCRIBE to This Old House: http://bit.ly/SubscribeThisOldHouse Steps for How to Prune Shrubs: 1. Prune shrubs with bypass hand pruners, not electric hedge trimmers. 2. Electric trimmers cut foliage and stems all on the same plane, which causes green growth on the outside but nothing except brown, bare branches on the inside of the shrub. 3. At that point, there s no way to trim back the shrub to control its size because you ll remove all the green foliage. 4. Bypass hand pruners provide a much better, albeit slower, way to prune shrubs. 5. Carefully cut branches just above a bud, which helps a plant heal and grow properly. 6. Prune branches at different depths to create holes into the shrub that let in sunlight. Soon the shrub will be green on the outside and inside. About Ask This Old House TV: Homeowners have a virtual truckload of questions for us on smaller projects, and we re ready to answer. Ask This Old House solves the steady stream of home improvement problems faced by our viewers—and we make house calls! Ask This Old House features some familiar faces from This Old House, including Kevin O Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook. Follow This Old House and Ask This Old House: Facebook: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseFB Twitter: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseTwitter http://bit.ly/AskTOHTwitter Pinterest: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHousePinterest Instagram: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseIG http://bit.ly/AskTOHIG Tumblr: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseTumblr For more on This Old House and Ask This Old House, visit us at: http://bit.ly/ThisOldHouseWebsite How to Prune Shrubs | Ask Roger | Ask This Old House https://www.youtube.com/user/thisoldhouse/