Garden for the Environment: Plant Pruning Basics

Learn pruning methods that keep your garden shrubs and small trees healthy and looking beautiful. Get hands-on practice, too!

Pruning is vital for plant health and can enhance the beauty and vigor of your entire garden. In this engaging workshop, you will learn how to make basic pruning cuts and about principles and techniques that inform wise pruning decisions for perennials, shrubs, and small garden trees. We will discuss the best times to prune for our San Francisco climate, as well as the proper tools for each type of pruning cut. This workshop will be hands-on, so you will gain the confidence to prune your own garden by practicing on some of GFE’s plants!

Instructor Shilpa Thanawala is a San Carlos-based UC Master Gardener and experienced garden educator. She runs a leadership coaching practice, and also serves as a grants manager for Planet Bee Foundation. Her small home garden contains more than 30 varieties of fruit trees, canes, and shrubs, a large herb garden, and a growing number of California native and pollinator plants. She has previously taught pruning to GFE’s Get Up! groups as well as to the public, and has co-taught GFE fruit tree pruning workshops.