Some gardeners get confused about when and what to prune in their gardens, so this week let's see what pruning is all about.

In nature, plants don't get pruned, so why do gardeners prune? One reason is to keep plants healthy by cutting out the dead or diseased parts.

Another reason is to help the plant produce more flowers or fruits, to keep a good shape and also to keep the plant from outgrowing its allotted space.

When pruning always take a neat clean cut on a diagonal, sloping away from the bud that you want to sprout.

The important reason for cutting on the diagonal like this is to enable rainwater to run off so that it doesn't cause disease to enter the plant.

As I have mentioned before, good hygiene is always important in the garden, so when pruning, always keep your secateurs clean as you want to avoid transferring disease from one plant to another.

Different plants have different pruning times during the year and it's always worth knowing when your particular plant needs to be pruned.

From mid to late March will be the time to prune bush, climbing, standard and miniature roses.

With rambling roses remember to prune after flowering is over. The reason for pruning roses is that it stops them from getting old woody stems and it allows the plant to produce new younger, stronger stems, which in turn will produce better flowers.

Also, now is the time that you can prune the summer flowering varieties of Clematis back to about four inches to a strong bud above ground level. Visit my website at www.gardendesigner.co.uk