Don't trim cedars and lilacs right now, says expert

Although spring is officially underway and some people are eager to get some yardwork done, some pruning needs to wait a while longer. 

Carla Hrycyna of St. Mary’s Nursery and Garden Centre, host of the Lawn and Garden Journal, says it’s important for cedars to only be trimmed in mid-June. 

“If you do it now, you’re actually going to cut off the bud set that’s going to open up for the spring. You want that bud set to open, and then let it perform its growth and then do your slight trimming.” 

Hrycyna notes that some arborists are out and about, trimming various trees and shrubs, getting them ready for spring growth. 

If you trim the lilac bushes now, you'll be missing out on spring flowers.

“The ones that you don’t want to do are the lilacs, forsythia, and maples.” 

The best time to prune maple trees is mid-summer. Lilacs can be trimmed after they are done blooming. 

Hrycyna says, quite often, when people notice they’re not getting blooms on their trees and shrubs, it’s because they are pruning them at the wrong time of year.