It is now officially summer! Yes, summer arrived at 6:43 a.m. on Monday, June 20! So let’s make the most of every gardening day! Have a cup of tea with me and we’ll chat about one of the many tasks in the garden at this time of year: trimming the candles on your mugo pines.
The “candles” on a mugo pine are the new growth each year: they are the long, slender shoots that look like fingers at the end of each branch. These little candles are very important, the destiny of growth and size that your mugo will be this season. Read this next sentence and keep it in mind: if you leave the candles as is, the long main candle will become a main branch, and the smaller side candles will become side branches. Remembering this will help to make sense of the whole process.
This is where our work begins, gardeners. Cutting the candles shapes and forms your tree by an equal percentage. If you trim your candle by one third, the branch will become two thirds as large as it would have been if you left the candle intact. From what I have read, though, cutting the candles by half seems to be the normal method of trimming.
It is a very relaxing job: you can either break the tender candles half-way by hand, or use your secateurs for a neater trim. Don’t delay: this is the time to do this task, by mid to late June, while the candles are still soft. If you wait until later in the summer, when the candles mature and begin to get firm like regular branches, it will be too late to have any effect.
Now the interesting part: by trimming or eliminating certain candles, you can promote the shape and density of your mugo pine. If your mugo has reached the width that you like, break off the large main candle and the secondary candles on the outer side branches, or leave just one, and cut it by half. Likewise, if the mugo is the height that you are happy with, break off the main candle on the upper branches, and then cut the secondary candles in half on these branches.
On the other side of the coin, if you have an area somewhere on your mugo pine where the growth is thin, then just pinch off the main candle, and leave the secondary candles just as they are. What will happen then, gardeners? The secondary candles will grow into branches and help fill in the space. Do you want your mugo to be taller? Leave the candles intact on the upper branches. Do you want it to be wider? Leave the candles intact on the outer, side branches.
And if you have a mugo that is currently the right height and width, you can help promote the overall thickness of it by cutting all the candles in half, right through the whole bush.
Does it all sound complicated? It’s not! For an easy comparison, think of how you pinch certain plants to make them bushy; cutting the candles on a mugo pine is the equivalent of pinching. By cutting the candles each year, you are helping to make your mugo pine more shapely and dense. The results come slowly each year, but you will be amazed at how the shape of your mugo will change and improve.
Just a reminder, the City of Yorkton “Yorkton In Bloom” competition is coming up. Maybe this is your year to share your garden with other enthusiastic gardeners in the city! The deadline to enter is 4:00 p.m. on July 8. Judging will be July 11 to 13, and the bus tour to see the winning entries will be on Friday, July 22, with two tour times: 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. For more information call (306) 786-1776 or (306) 786-1750.
Have a great week, and be sure to wear a hat!
