Gardener says prune 8 plants in August to

Pruning is an important gardening job, and it isn't solely carried out for cosmetic reasons. As well as maintaining the garden's appearance, it can also help to stimulate the plant to produce fresh blooms, particularly in the following growing season.

Figuring out the best time to prune specific plants can be confusing, but August is an excellent time to complete various chores around the garden. Helena Jones, a gardening specialist and head of commercial at Hedges Direct, said: "For certain plants, the key time to prune isn't winter; it's summer. This can help encourage next year's blooms, keep their shape tidy, or even do both. August is an ideal time to prune several deciduous, climbing, summer-flowering shrubs,"

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For optimal results, wisteria should be pruned twice annually, once in August to tidy it up and again in winter to encourage plenty of short, flowering spurs.

Helena said: "Just cut back all the strong new growth to five buds and remove any spent flower stalks from this year."

The lengthy, trailing stems can be shortened now to three or four leaves, according to the specialist. Ensure you take older stems out down to the ground to promote fresh growth, too.

The expert said: "Cut back the spent flowered stems of summer-flowering jasmine to a strong side shoot lower down."

Once the primary framework of your trained pyracantha is established, trim back this year's sideshoots in August. Ensure you stop just before a cluster of berries, which is usually two or three leaves up from the base.

According to Helena, you can trim back the flowered branches of summer-flowering cotoneaster now to half their length.

She added that the oldest branches can be cut right back to the ground.

Helena said: "Remove a third of the oldest stems down to the ground, and then any weak, misplaced, dead, diseased or damaged growth. Tie in new, vigorous shoots ready for flowering next year."

August is an excellent time to prune lavender, cutting back faded flowers and removing 2cm to 3cm of foliage. Take care not to cut too deeply into the plant, as lavender and hebe won't regenerate from old wood.

The gardening pro continued: "Unless you have a flowering hedge, August is the ideal time for cutting. The birds have finished nesting, and it's early enough to avoid frost damage on freshly cut stems, but late enough that there won't be much regrowth before winter."