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When pruning a five-finger shrub, there are a few basic rules you should follow to ensure healthy growth and abundant flowering. We have summarised them here.
Why you should prune your five-finger shrub
The fingerbush is also known as the five-finger bush. It delights us with yellow flowers in summer.
- The fingerbush always flowers on one-year-old shoots. You should therefore regularly remove older, woody branches. This encourages more abundant flowering.
- An annual pruning prevents the plant from becoming overmature and gradually losing its foliage. It remains bushy and a lovely green.
- If you prune the shrub back, it will grow even more compactly, take on a lovely shape and produce an abundance of flowers.
- If the five-finger shrub has pests, such as aphids or caterpillars, it must be pruned back drastically.
- Even if your five-finger shrub is intended as ground cover, you should still prune it back. This stimulates growth and helps the plant spread more quickly.
How to prune your fingerbush correctly
The fingerbush is generally very low-maintenance and tolerates pruning very well.
- Prune your fingerbush in spring immediately after flowering. Remove only the flower clusters, cutting about ten centimetres below the flowers.
- Carry out the second pruning in autumn. Shorten the shrub by about a third overall.
- The spindle tree can also tolerate radical pruning right back to the ground. However, this should only be done once every two to three years at most.
- You should always remove dead or wilted parts of the plant immediately. This prevents any potential diseases from spreading.
- Use sharp secateurs. The branches must be cut cleanly. Bacteria accumulate in crushed areas and the plant begins to rot.
