Then trim carefully for the next few years to give it the shape and fullness desired. Rejuvenating evergreen hedges is more difficult. As a rule, evergreens cannot stand the severe pruning described above. It will cut cleaner and closer than electric trimmers, which often break and tear twigs. Hand shears are also quieter and safer, less likely to gouge the hedge or the operator.
Hand pruners are useful for removing a few stray branches.
All roses need some type of pruning. If roses are not pruned for a number of years, plants deteriorate in appearance, often develop more than the usual disease and insect problems, and the flowers become smaller and smaller. Hybrid Tea, Grandiflora, and Floribunda roses require annual pruning in the spring, after winter protection has been removed. As a guideline, follow the old saying that roses are pruned when the forsythia blooms. If rosebushes are pruned too early, injury from repeated frost may make a second pruning necessary.