Prune These Plants in July for More Flowers, Bigger Harvests, and a Better Garden Next Year

July brings a mesmerizing warm summer glow to gardens. As well as being a time to stand back and admire, it is also a month to keep pruning. There are some important trimming tasks to do this month that will ensure your garden is full of glorious flowers for longer.

It is a month for regular deadheading in your beds, borders, and containers to keep the blooms coming, and you can cut back early-flowering perennials for a second flush of flowers. Also, shrubs and climbers that flower in late spring and early summer need trimming to produce the best display next year.

This guide to plants to prune in July includes a wide variety of shrubs, climbers, perennials, annuals, fruit and vegetables that need your attention this month. If you are building a summer gardening checklist, we’ve got you covered.

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Prune Early-Flowering Shrubs

July is the last opportunity to trim spring-flowering shrubs. If you haven’t done it yet, I recommend doing it quickly this month. These glorious shrubs flower on old wood and will have already started setting buds for next year, so prune carefully to avoid hampering next year’s flowers.

It is also the month to prune shrubs that flower in early summer – including those that may have been in full bloom in June. They also set buds on this year’s growth from midsummer onwards, and pruning them quickly after flowering gives them lots of time to set themselves up for a top show next year.

This advice covers philadelphus, California lilac, weigela, deutzia, forsythia, rhododendrons, and azaleas. To prune these shrubs this month, remove any dead, diseased, or damaged stems, cut the old flowering stems back to strong side shoots, and lightly shape the shrub to keep it neat.

The key advice is to do this trimming early in July, as pruning too late into summer will see you remove next year’s potential blooms. After pruning, it is beneficial to mulch around the shrubs and feed them with a balanced, slow-release fertilizer, such as this organic plant food at Burpee.

Chop Early-Flowering Perennials

You may have heard of ‘The Chelsea Chop’, but what about ‘The Hampton Hack’?. The latter is a technique whose timing is based on the annual RHS summer flower show, which takes place every July (though it is no longer held at Hampton Court annually, as it was for many years, hence the name).

Whatever the name, the summer pruning technique is done in early July to rejuvenate early-flowering perennials, stimulating them to produce new growth and a second, albeit smaller, round of blooms.

This technique is suitable for hardy geraniums, lupins, salvias, delphiniums, astrantia, bee balm, and alchemilla.

It is a simple technique to do. Take your pruning tools (either a set of sharp pruning shears or hedge shears) and cut the clumps back to about six inches from the ground. Then remember to keep the plants well-watered during the summer to support healthy regrowth and new flowers.

Deadhead Summer Flowers

July is a month for regularly deadheading summer flowers to enjoy the longest season of blooms. Deadheading is a simple and rewarding summer gardening job, and one that helps perennial and annual plants to look their best for longer.

In a nutshell, removing faded flowers stops the plant putting energy into producing seeds, and instead directs it to developing new buds and blooms.

Many popular summer-flowering plants need deadheading throughout July, including the likes of roses, dahlias, salvias, zinnias, cosmos, coneflower, daylilies, and more, which will all perform better for longer thanks to deadheading.

Soft-stemmed flowers can often be pinched between your fingers and thumb. However, I always prefer to use pruning shears or pruning snips (like these Fiskars pruning snips, available at Amazon) to deadhead plants. Simply snip off the spent flowers back to a set of leaves or a bud.

Some flowers don’t need deadheading, including self-cleaning annuals that shed their own old flowers. These include some types of impatiens, lobelia, and petunia.

Trim Robust Climbers

July is a time to prune vigorous flowering climbers after they have flowered, which includes wisteria, early-flowering honeysuckle, and summer jasmine. If yours are still flowering this month, wait until the blooms fully fade for the season before heading out with the tools.

You need to prune wisteria twice a year to keep it controlled and looking at its finest, whereas honeysuckle and jasmine need just one pruning session per season after flowering.

The focus of summer pruning of climbers needs to be on removing dead or dying branches and cutting the longer, whippy stems back to a few feet.

With wisteria, good practise is to cut the shoots down to fix or six leaves, while honeysuckle and jasmine should be trimmed a bit further, to two or three leaves, but always cut to just above a leaf node.

Lightly Trim Formal Hedges

Many popular garden hedging plants will look all the better for a light summer trim. To keep your yard looking neat for upcoming summer events and parties, clipping hedges in July will tighten the shape and stop them looking straggly or bushy.

Formal evergreen hedges such as box, yew, and laurel all benefit from a summer prune, and the same applies for deciduous fast-growing hedges like beech, privet, and hornbeam.

Always check any hedges for nesting birds during the summer months, and don’t do any trimming if there are any signs of activity, or you may risk facing penalties or fines under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The take-home advice here is to trim lightly in July. Many of the hedges above need trimming twice a year to keep them looking sharp. This month is a time to gently clip back this year’s growth and shape the hedges.

These steel blade extendable hedge shears at Amazon are perfect for tidying your formal hedges in summer.

Prune Heat-Loving Edibles

The vegetable garden isn’t a major source of pruning in July; it is more of a spot for watering, weeding, and harvesting. There are, though, some crops for which trimming is beneficial in summer to help you get the best yields from your plants.

The main one is when growing tomatoes, as gardeners should continue to remove the ‘suckers’ or side shoots of indeterminate or vining tomato varieties. These plants routinely grow side shoots between the main and leaf branches, which should be regularly removed to avoid wasting energy.

You can use your fingers to remove the shoots, but larger ones need snipping off with pruning shears. I like these bypass pruners at Garden Goods Direct, as they have ergonomically shaped grips so trimming is always comfortable.

It is also advisable to prune the lowest leaves from tomato plants to stop them touching the soil.

Gardeners should also prune cucumber plants to keep the plant healthy. Remove the lowest side shoots from the bottom two feet of the stem and trim any old or yellowing foliage. It is also advisable to scour the vegetable garden and remove yellow leaves from peppers, zucchini, squash, and pumpkins.

You can also prune squash and pumpkins by trimming the side shoots once flowers have formed and the first small fruits are developing. Pruning encourages the plant to focus energy on developing a select amount of fruits rather than keep on producing more and more.

Prune Fruit Trees

July is a time for summer pruning any fruit trees grown in restricted forms, including those grown as fan or espalier trees. These trees need pruning twice a year.

In summer, the goal for pruning espalier apple or pear trees is to develop fruiting spurs and allow light and air in to ripen the developing fruits.

Cut any side shoots growing off the main arms of the tree to three to four leaves above the base, and any shoots coming off these secondary branches need cutting back to just one leaf.

In July, it is also beneficial to thin fruits, so you get better quality harvests. Thinning fruit trees can be done carefully by hand, or with small pruning tools like shears, snips, or scissors.

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There are a lot of gardeners who think that July is too late to sow flowers and vegetables for the year, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth in reality.

In fact, July offers a wealth of potential. What is important, though, is picking the right plants and remembering to keep on top of watering after sowing in summer.

For inspiration, we reveal lots of flowers, vegetables, and herbs in our guide to what to plant in July to help you enjoy beautiful blooms and homegrown harvests for many months to come.

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