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Spring-blooming shrubs like forsythia set their buds the previous year.

The winter did a lot of damage to trees and shrubs, and while some homeowners have already dealt with it, many still have some work to do.

Mike Tero, co-owner of Springvale Nurseries with his wife, Kelly Tarbox, offered some tips, but the key piece of advice is: patience.

Let's start with rhododendrons, which have a lot of burnt tops from being exposed to winter wind and sun.

"Rhodos have dormant buds along their stems," Tero said. "Before lopping anything off you should wait to see where your rhododendron will spring to life again. After the buds are out and it releafs, then prune off any remaining, truly dead branches."

Rhododendrons and other spring-blooming shrubs – lilacs, forsythia, azalea, viburnum and andromeda – set their buds the previous year.

"So this means you want to prune in late spring or early summer, generally as soon as they finish blooming, so they can reset their buds for next year," Tero said.

Later-blooming shrubs such as spirea, potentilla, hibiscus and weigelas bloom on this year's growth and are best pruned in fall or early spring.

Getting back to winter damage, you should cut off all damaged branches close to the trunk but not right against it. You want to leave the branch collar.

Needled evergreens should be pruned when the tree is in growth and setting buds, mostly in early summer. So when you remove the end of the branch, it will re-bud and fill out the following spring into the desired shape.

"If the very top leader of your spruce or pine tree withers and dies but the rest of the tree otherwise appears healthy," Tero said, "the most likely culprit is a pine or spruce borer. If you look closely, you can see their entry holes. Cut off the dead top down to the next living side branch. You can then train a new leader. After a year, you may have more than one leader competing for the top spot. Select the strongest, straightest leader that is closest to the center of the tree and remove all others."

Other evergreen shrubs such as all the arborvitaes can be pruned aggressively, though it's best to stay in the greenery. If you cut back to bare wood, it will take a long time to fill in.

Deciduous trees are best pruned and shaped when they are dormant, before the sap starts running in the spring, so that means late fall or winter. With fruit trees, aim to get as much light as possible into the center of the tree, to create larger fruit.

Woody shrubs such as lilac, mock orange, bridal wreath spirea, beauty bush and potentilla need aggressive pruning as they get mature, Tero said. Cut out some of the biggest, oldest stems from the center and let some young suckers come up from the ground. Old woody stems begin to fail as they age.

Finally, we get to hydrangeas. Later-blooming varieties – Paniculata grandifloras and Annabelles – are best pruned in late fall or early spring, because they bloom on new growth. Many of these varieties are actually large shrubs that are pruned to grow as trees.

The macrophylla varieties are pruned a little differently and are generally more shrub-like. These include the Nikkos and Endless Summer varieties. Wait until you see where on the stems they begin to leaf out, and then prune about 2 inches above those leaves. You can continue to shape all summer if desired, Tero said.

YARDSCAPING, PART 2

The second phase of the Yardscaping demonstration garden in Back Cove will be installed this spring.

An urban garden and an urban/suburban garden were planted last year. This year, on June 18-20, a rural/suburban garden and a rural garden will be planted. As with the first planting last year, volunteers are being sought to help out with the project.

"The plant list will be much sparser at this end, with fewer trees and fewer shrubs and not that many perennials," said Gary Fish of the Yardscaping Partnership, which is creating...