How to Prune a Shrub Decoratively

Pick a design for the shrub and purchase a form for the design if necessary. Many standard topiary designs, like balls and cones, can be pruned without a guide, but if you want to attempt a more complex design for your decorative shrub, such as an animal or a letter, you can do so with a metal topiary form.

Prune a standard shape by sight. For a ball shape, for instance, begin in the top center of the shrub that you want to prune and cut the top of the shrub so that it arches down in all directions and cut any points or corners from the shrub. Continue to cut away corners of the shrub as they are created by your pruning, rounding each point into an arch until the entire shrub is rounded.

Step back from the shrub as you cut so that you can inspect the standard design from a distance occasionally during the process. Continue to form the shrub little-by-little until you create the basic shape that you want.

Slide the metal topiary form over top of the shrub that you want to cut decoratively if you want to create a complex shape that you cannot cut by sight. Press the form down until the top sits even with the top of the shrub and trim the branches of the shrub back so that they sit level with the form. Leave the form on the shrub and allow the foliage to continue to grow in around the form and fill out any holes in the design.