problem shrub and tree questions

I know nothing about shrubs or tree but I'm trying to help out an older couple who live in a house surrounded by quite a few shrubs and trees that look like they need some work.

I found a few articles on pruning shrubs but they make it sound like it may be too late in the season to prune. The shrubs they have are Wegelia, Hydrangias, (what I think is called) Wild Bush Rose (it definitely has sharp stickers), and one that I cannot identify. We're in Central Minnesota (Zone 3B) and Spring came late this year, in case that makes a difference. All of the shrubs are just beginning to get green buds.

In the first picture you can see that the Bush Rose has become very leggy because the (unidentified) shrub in front of it grew quickly and was never pruned back. Any suggestions about what to do? The Bush Rose did flower last summer but only at the top half. The bottom half is pretty much ugly branches, some of which look dead.

Does anyone know what the unidentified shrub might be. We do know what it gets dark red berries in the fall. There's a closeup of one of it's branches included here.

The Weglia has hardly any buds so far and actually looks kind of sick, although it bloomed very nicely early last summer.

TREES: They have a lot of tree on this property and can't really afford to a professional tree specialist. There are a couple of oak trees with severely split, half hanging, smaller lower branches. The main issue with them half-hanging is wind and safety. I'm not about to get involved with high ladders or chainsaws (no experience) but it does look like I could get rope around several of the damaged branches and pull them down. Will doing this damage the tree's health or cause other problems? Mother Nature is going to rip them off sooner or later anyway but i don;t want to add damage.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

Unidentified shrub and Hydrangia (of which they have several that look like this).

I'm afraid it'll need better quality photos for identification - these pics are too low resolution and blurred to see what the plants are.

Resin

You can prune the hydrangea and weigelia just after they bloom. I can't tell from the photo whether the unidentified bush has broken dormancy or not. Use the highest resolution possible on your camera when taking photos. It does make it easier to see. Close up photos of leaves and flowers when they emerge would help to identify it. I would prune the rose bush now.

As for the trees, ragged wounds will not heal. Water and detritus will accumulate there over time and cause rot. It they are large enough to cause damage should they fall, paying a professional to cut the branches off is worth the price. Oak is a heavy wood. Even a six inch diameter branch can cause damage or kill a person if it fell on them. If large branches fell on the house, the repair bills would be enormous.

In the late 90s, a tour bus in Yosemite was hit by a falling branch killing one person and severely injuring several more. We have quit a few large live oaks here on the ranch. We've had large branches break off. Thank goodness there wasn't anything underneath. Three years, lightening hit a mesquite grove where several of our Angus cattle had taken refuge during a thunderstorm. The falling branches killed two very pregnant cows. We had a storm go through here a few days ago. The straight line winds, between 80 and 120 miles an hour, left a path of destruction behind. It happens often enough around here that the sensible thing is not to build too close to large trees. Many houses were severely damaged by falling trees and branches and these were healthy trees. Damaged branches would have come off a lot easier.

Large trees, especially large oaks, can add monetary value to the property if they are healthy, vigorous and well cared for. If they are a mess, they will detract from the value.

Thanks for the info to date... I did actually take higher resolution pics but cut them way back with Photoshop thinking I was saving Dave some server space but I'm posting the better ones here.

(1) If I understand Betty's answer correctly I won't harm any of trees by pulling down branches. Most are about 3-4" diameter and of course I'd only do this when I can get enough clearance not to be hit.

(2) I wait for the Weigelia and Hydrangia to bloom and then prune them? I have a brief article in a mag called Garden gate thaht shows the differences among Heading Back, Thinning, and Rejuvenating. Which of these do you recommend for the Hydrangeas? The mag says to do the pruning in late winter but it sounds like you think after bllooming is OK too.

(3) There's also Spirea but I think it can be trimmed anytime?

(4) I'm posting higher resolution pics. The first two are the unidentified shrub. You can see one berry on the first pic (left from last fall). The third pic is what I "think" is informally called a Wild Bush Rose but I'm not at all sure of this and would appreciate knowing it's proper name so i can get more info about it.

Again, thanks in advance for all of your help and suggestions.

also a pic of the unidentified shrub

pic of what I think is sometimes called a Wild Bush Rose. Definitely has many stickers (they are more like long pin-like stickers than like thorns.) Would like to know it's proper name and what to do about it having become so leggy

I don't think Betty was saying you should pull down the branches--I think she was saying they need to come down, but pulling them off is not the best approach. It's better to get an arborist up there to cut them cleanly (and they'll have equipment to make sure the branches don't drop on you, the house, etc as they fall). If you just yank them down, it'll make big ragged wounds and that's not good for the tree.

As far as pruning the shrubs--I would see if that Garden Gate article lists Weigela and Hydrangea as shrubs that you can do the rejuvenation pruning on--given the shape that they're in that's probably your best bet but not all shrubs will come back from that sort of pruning. Normally you wouldn't want to prune these until after they bloom, but in this case it may be more important to get the shrubs back in good shape than to have flowers so if you want you could go ahead and prune them now, just understand that you won't get any flowers until next year if you do that. The reason why they tell you to prune shrubs like this after bloom is because if you prune before bloom then you won't get flowers that year, not because it's inherently bad for the shrub to prune it earlier.

Thanks ecrane for a very helpful reply!!!!!!!

I agree with not pulling down those branches, your liable to peel back the bark from perfectly good wood which would make the problem worse in the long run. If your not willing to pay to have them pruned, then let them fall naturally.

I have a few wild bush/rambler type roses and mine always look leggy. I cut them nearly to the ground last winter and they look better now.

Thanks! They are both roses; identification to species (or cultivar) will have to wait until they flower in a month or so.

Resin

ecrane3 explained what I meant regarding the oak trees.

Hydrangeas can be pruned in winter as the leaf buds begin to swell. The plant will produce fewer but larger flower clusters. If pruned after they bloom, you'll get more, but smaller flower clusters. I prefer bigger flowers so I prune in as the leaf buds are swelling.

I'm not familiar with the article and don't know what Garden Gate means by rejuvenating pruning entails, but heading back and thinning will rejuvenate a shrub and you do both with hydrangeas. When pruning, prune out the dead branches first. Prune out thin branches and damaged ones next. (This is part of thinning.) You can also prune out weaker or less vigorous branches. Be sure to leave at least 2 good leaf buds on each remaining branch.

The recommended pruning time for weigela is after they bloom, but you can cut out the older looking branches now. Older branches have already bloomed and won't bloom again. With weigelas, you prune out the entire branch. If you want bushier plants you can head back other branches.

Rejuvenating is basically pruning them to the ground, some shrubs respond well to this but others won't come back that's why it's important to find out if the shrub will respond well to this before trying it. But if you have a shrub that responds well to this and it's become very leggy and overgrown, this can be a great way to get it back into looking like a nice normal shrub again

Thank you all for the very helpful information! As always.

It's been a little more than two weeks since the first posting about this tree (also the same time span for its transplant) and I'm hoping to get more opinions about what to do at this point now that a couple of weeks have gone by.

I watered it every day -- to the point where I began to worry that I might be overwatering it, although it's in a place where it's receiving a lot of wind - not necessarily strong wind but constant.

Does anyone have opinions on whether this tree looks like it's dying or maybe just working on its own to recover and just not looking too good. Because the roots where probably cut too short when it was removed for transplant someone suggested, as a last resort, trimming it way down. If I was to do that about how much would you suggest taking, and would I take it all off the top or thin it, so to speak, by removing several of the branches coming from the gorund in their entirety? It's really a beatuiful tree (or was) -- it would be a shame to lose it.

(The detail photo of the leaves has cardboard behind it to make the detail easier to see).

It definitely doesn't look happy. However, it's a bit hard to tell whether it can still recover and survive or if it's going to continue to be unhappy and eventually die. I would keep babying it and cross your fingers. You're probably the one in the best position to make a judgement since you've been watching it frequently--is it looking perkier than it was a few days ago? Less perky? If it's looking perkier than it was before then things are going in the right direction.

Also, I think your original questions on this particular transplanted shrub were actually in a different thread than this one, if you can find it you might want to post the update there, or post a link to that thread here so people who were following this thread but not your other one will know the history.

Ecrane - you're right about the thread... this is one I posted for an entirely different person on an entirely different problem... and got my threads crossed, so thanks for pointing that out. As for it looking perkier - ot dpesn't it looked this way from about three or four days after it was transplanted.

I read the original thread. Since the rootball taken was so small and no top pruning was done, anything done now just might help increase its chances of survival. The plant is having a difficult time supplying water and nutrients to all of the top. Remove entire branches leaving maybe two or three branches. Reduce the height of the ones left down to a few healthier looking buds. Maybe sheltering it from the constantly drying wind as well.

Good idea not to overwater since the plant is not taking up much water. Add mulch to keep the soil moist and cool.