Prune pyracantha just after flowering

Prune pyracantha just after flowering to make the most of the fabulous display of berries you can expect from next month onwards.

You'll find a great selection of this truly year-round shrub in our garden centre here in Co. Limerick, with berries in a traffic light range of colours. Among the best scarlet-berried pyracantha are 'Saphyr Rouge'. If you prefer orange berries, look out for 'Saphyr Orange' or 'Orange Glow', and there are also pyracantha with berries in butter yellow, such as 'Soleil d'Or'. All offer interest for every month of the year, with evergreen foliage through winter, a froth of white blossom in spring and those brilliant, jewel-like berries from autumn onwards.

The best way to show them off is by training them against a wall or fence. Carry out your main pruning in mid-spring, when you can tidy up any branches which are heading in the wrong direction and remove any dead or damaged ones following the winter's hardships. But round about now, a second smaller, finer tidy-up helps remove any shoots which are obscuring those fabulous berry clusters. Take them right back to the branch, taking care to trim off only green, non-flowering growth so you don't end up cutting off those precious berries in the process.