Step #1 – Choose the right plant and right time. Perrenial herbs are the best candidates for rejuvinating and radical pruning. With annual herbs, this is seldom an issue and are contiually pruned through frequent harvesting. While most woody herbs can be pruned any time but most radical pruning, thinning and repotting should be done either during dormancy or immediately after flowering when they are naturally slowing down.
Step #2 – Before picking up the pruners, take time to look at the herb closely. Where is the dead growth? What growth is weak? What is the overall shape? What stuctural elements does it have that can be accentuated? What other needs does the herb have? Rootbound, broken pot, tired soil? Are there insects or diseases present that need to be addressed? If so, take care of these first before making any cuts.
Step #3 – Remove the dead wood. When removing the dead wood, always remove it all the way to the base of the plant. In some cases, you may want to partially cut back the unwanted limbs in order to better see the base of the plant. In most cases, you will want to consider limbs that are mostly dead or non-productive as being completely dead because they usually won’t do well.
Step #4 – Look for “air layered” or suckered plants. Most aromatic herbs with woody stems will either air-layer and/or sucker. This simply means that portions of the stem that touch the soil will take root at the point they make contact with the soil (air-layer) or will send up new sprouts from the roots (sucker). Be careful with these, because these are “free plants” for you. When found, cut them loose at the parent plant. Make a second cut near to point where they rooted to reduce the size of the new plant. Seperate sucker plants when you unpot the plant.
Step #5 – Thin the interior growth to allow air and sunshine into the interior of the plant. Remove the stem suckers, damaged and crossing branches and thin the “clump-growth” that forms in most herbs. Congested plants invite disease.
Step #6 – Prune the structure into a pleasing shape. Step back away from the plant and take a good look at the “flow” and natural shape of the plant. Work with these natural tendencies to develop a pleasing shape that is also natural in appearance. The end result will often resemble “Bonsai”.
Step #7 – Cut back dead or malformed tips. Many herbs, when they start getting tired will start to produce “straggly” tips where they get elongated, weak and sometimes pale in color. The leaves they produce may be small, far between, pale in color or misshapen. Remove these all the way back to strong growth.
Step #8 – Mix potting soil to repot the herb in. Here you have two choices: 1) “Store bought” potting mixes, or 2) Mix your own. If you use a commercial mix, purchase one without additional fertilizer added because most aromatic herbs will do best with very little additional fertilizer. Add it to the mix yourself. Be aware that most commercial mixes will retain much more moisture than most aromatic herbs prefer.
The alternative is to mix your own potting soil by mixing equal parts of garden soil, compost and sand. This was the standard potting mix for decades before commercial mixes. If your garden soil has a particularly high clay content, add additional sand to the mix for drainage. For every gallon bucketful of mix, add one tablespoon of garden lime and approximately one-half teaspoon of slow-release fertilizer (preferrably organic). Mix the ingredients well.
Step #9 – Remove the plant from its container. The herb has been growing for some time in its present container. The container may need to be “upsized”, but the soil is sure to be tired and in need of being replaced or fortified. Don’t just keep adding fertilizer to tired soil in hopes of making the plant grow. The soil is a living organism that needs to be kept healthy and vigorous. Gently remove some of the soil from the rootball and untangle any matted roots.
Step #10 – If you found any air-layered or suckered plants earlier, seperate these now and set aside to pot up individually.
Step #11 – Repot the herb plant and pot up any new plants you may have.
Step #12 – Water well and keep in partial shade for one to two weeks to allow the plant to recouperate before returning it to its sunny location.
The Hillbilly Gardener was born Lyndell G. Miller and can be found at
http://www.jerrysplantsonline.com/about_us.htm where he resides as the driving force and inspiration for all things gardening and outdoor living. There are few things about gardening that he hasn’t tried and after spending almost 50 years with his hands in the soil, he gets some of his greatest pleasures from helping others learn the joys of gardening and learning how to do more with less.