The definition of pruning, according to the Webster Collegiate Dictionary, is to cut off or cut back parts of a plant for better shape or more fruitful growth.

Pruning is not confined to the removal of branches from trees and shrubs. Other pruning techniques include deadheading, pinching, disbudding, and cutting back of flowering plants.

Deadheading is the term used by English gardeners when spent or dead flowers are removed from the plant.

Removal of flowers from a plant results in the formation of additional flower buds by inhibiting seed production, thus prolonging the plant's blooming season.

Deadheading can keep the plant healthier because the dead flower is often the site of disease such as gray mold.

Scissors or pruning shears can be used for deadheading. For most plants the spent flower is cut back to the first leaf.

Pinching is the removal of the growing tip of the plant. When it is removed, the buds along the stem break and grow into new branches.

Pinching is usually done in the spring, when the plans begin to grow actively. To pinch, remove the section of the plant above the topmost set of leaves.

A prime candidate for pinching is the chrysanthemum. Mums can be pinched at numerous stems to produce a much fuller plant.

Pinching should be performed several times until about the middle of July. Stop pinching at this time because buds are beginning to form.

Disbudding is the removal of a flower bud. Some plants, such as tuberous-rooted begonias, produce a large terminal flower bud with two auxiliary buds. The terminal flower is larger and showier than the auxiliary buds. If the auxiliary buds are removed, the terminal bud becomes even larger and more beautiful.

Cutting back is the uniform cutting of a plant to its normal size.

Cutting back improves the appearance of straggly plants and in some plants encourages flowering.

Most petunias respond to this treatment. By late summer, most of them are straggly and unkempt and can be drastically cut back and rebound with an abundance of flowering.

Pete Hale of Sarver is a Master Gardener with the Penn State Master Gardner program.