The Art of Structural Pruning

I have been attending a series of aesthetic pruning classes, held on the Merritt College campus in Oakland. Aesthetic pruning refers to the art and science of pruning small trees and shrubs in the garden, using design principles that honor the essence of the plant. The first aesthetic pruning class was developed in 1986 by Dennis Makishima, from the Merritt College Landscape Horticulture Department. Michael Alliger and others developed additional classes to form the series. Alliger teaches many of the classes, and has a wonderful way of conveying principles, demonstrating artful cuts, and providing practical information.

Through this series, I have learned that many of the pruning rules you read in gardening books do not apply in the San Francisco Bay Area. For example, in many instances, you can prune year round. You just need to understand a tree or shrub’s growth pattern, and what you are trying to achieve with your pruning.

In The Art of Pruning Deciduous Trees and Shrubs, I learned the concept of structural pruning for deciduous (leaf dropping) trees. In the winter, without the leaves, you can see the base structure of a tree. This enables you to make structural cuts that enhance the tree’s form for its winter silhouette, and its long term development. There is beauty in bare tree limbs against the winter sky.

The Bay Area has many gardening resources; the Aesthetic Pruning Series is one of its treasures. To learn more about aesthetic pruning, visit http://www.aestheticpruning.org/AP/Default.aspx. To find out about the classes, visit: http://www.aestheticpruning.org/AP/Classes.aspx. The series lasts for a year; you can attend classes in any order, over a period of several years.

Without leaves, a tree's basic form is revealed.