The guys came through my neighborhood this week with the hedge shears to turn every shrub – loropetalum, ligustrum, holly, camellia, whatever – into round balls. Humans seem to love this geometric pruning because you see it in Europe as well as here in the states. I suppose part of the appeal is that it’s easy and quick and you don’t have to know anything about plants.

Sheared plants make sense in very formal gardens but our gardens are much more informal with flowing lines and asymmetrical balance.

We’ve been fighting the way people hack crape myrtles down for a number of years. I invite you to join me in the “No More Shears” movement. We have no organization, no leadership and no budget, but we have good horticulture and our trusty hand pruners attached to our belts.

Before we get too deeply involved in our new movement, let’s take a look at some of pruning basics.

The guys who were happily shearing everything in my neighborhood were ignoring proper timing for pruning. Things that flower from late winter to spring have already set their flower buds. You may want to sacrifice a few flowers to get those loropetalums shaped up a bit, but doing that to a sasanqua camellia with fat buds that are beginning to open doesn’t make a lot of sense.

While some light pruning to make things look better is fine, fall is the wrong time to do heavy cutting. We want our plants to slow their growth and prepare for the coming winter. Heavy pruning tends to stimulate new growth.

All the pruning we do comes down to two types of cuts – heading back and thinning out. Shearing is heading back – cutting limbs and branches at some arbitrary point. Thinning out – as it implies – involves cutting entire branches back to a larger branch or the main trunk.

If you shear and never thin, you’ll end up with lots of thick growth in the outer two or three inches of the canopy and no leaves inside. Leaves must capture sunlight or they will be dropped. So, even if you can’t completely join the “No More Shears” movement, thin the plants after the shearing to allow sunlight down into the plant canopy.

One of the main reasons we struggle so much with pruning is that we install the wrong plants. We’re impatient and want something that looks full and complete from day one. But, plants grow – and often overgrow – the space. It’s just hard for most people to imagine that an innocent looking Nellie R. Stevens holly that was 4 feet tall in the nursery container will grow to 25 feet tall and 12 feet wide.

By using plants that fit the space, you can reduce the need to prune. That’s less work for you and a more natural look for the plant.

Membership in the “No More Shears” movement only requires a good pair of hand pruners, maybe some loppers and the willingness to use them. Aren’t you tired of cutting the extension cord when you’re running those hedge shears anyway?

No membership is required to get some help with your plant problems. Check out our website http://ces.ncsu.edu, where you can post your questions via the ‘Ask an Expert’ link, or contact your local Cooperative Extension center Pender County at 910-259-1238; New Hanover County at 910-798-7660; Brunswick County at 910-253-2610. You can also find great local information at www.nhcarboretum.com and on Facebook. Just search for “New Hanover County Arboretum. Or, stop by the Plant Clinic at the Arboretum between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.