Short answer: in October, prune shrubs that have just finished flowering: azaleas, camellias, spring-flowering grevilleas and waratahs. Shape hibiscus and give hedges a light trim. Leave hydrangeas, gardenias and leafy frangipanis alone, and keep roses to deadheading. Citrus is at the very end of its window, so keep any cut light.
Search "when to prune" and Google offers Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. Sydney's mild, humid climate shifts the timing, and a cut at the wrong time usually means a season without flowers. Here's how October works in a North Shore garden.
Prune now
Azaleas and camellias, straight after flowering
Spring is their pruning season (Gardening Australia magazine). Prune as soon as the flowers finish, so the new growth has the rest of the season to set next year's buds. Leave it until late summer or winter and you'll be cutting off next spring's flowers.
- Take off spent flowers and any dead or crossing wood.
- Shape lightly, cutting just above a leaf joint.
- Skip the tight "ball" shearing on azaleas unless that's a look you want to keep up.
My free heritage and classic gardens guide goes deeper on camellia timing, petal blight and tea scale.
Spring-flowering natives: grevilleas and wattles
Same rule: tip-prune or shape straight after flowering, which keeps them dense rather than leggy. With banksias, keep your cuts within the green, leafy growth, because many banksias don't reshoot well from old bare wood.
Waratahs: cut the flower stems
Waratahs flower around September and October in Sydney. When a flower finishes, or when you pick it for a vase, cut the stem back by at least half. That's what gives you more flowering stems next year. There's more in my post on keeping a waratah alive in a Sydney garden.
Hibiscus, plumbago and other summer-flowering shrubs
These flower on new growth, so a spring prune now pushes out the stems that flower this summer (Gardening Australia magazine).
Hedges: a light trim of the spring flush
Lilly pillies, murraya and photinia are all pushing soft new growth. A light trim keeps the face of the hedge tight. On lilly pillies it also takes off psyllid-damaged tips. See why your lilly pilly leaves have bumps.
A note on murraya: NSW WeedWise lists murraya (Murraya paniculata) as an environmental weed in parts of NSW, because birds spread its berries. If you're planting a new hedge near bushland, choose a local native instead.
With a formal hedge, I trim lightly and often through the growing season to keep the growth dense. University of Georgia Extension says formal hedges may need shearing three to five times during the growing season, and Iowa State University Extension puts it at two to four times or more. Keep the top a little narrower than the base so light reaches the lower branches. Clemson University Extension warns that constant shearing makes a thick outer shell of leaves that shades the inside of the plant, so I thin out a few branches now and then too.
Prune lightly, if you haven't already: citrus
The best window is late winter to early spring, as flowers start to form (Gardening Australia magazine). By mid-October many lemons are already in flower, so keep it light:
- No all-over haircut. That removes the fruiting wood.
- Take no more than about 20% of the canopy in a year. Cut the longest, most awkward branches back to about 30 cm inside the shape you want.
- Remove dead, damaged and crossing branches. Lift the lowest branches to about 1 m for airflow.
- Lumpy swellings on young stems are citrus gall wasp. Cut them off and put them in the bin, not the compost.
Leave alone for now
1. Hydrangeas
Mophead hydrangeas are pruned in winter, back to a strong pair of buds (Gardening Australia). In October those buds are becoming this summer's flowers. Just snip out anything dead.
2. Gardenias
Gardenias are a summer job, done after the main flush of flowers (Gardening Australia magazine). Cut them now and you cut off the buds.
3. Frangipanis
Prune in late winter to early spring, while the tree is bare and you can see its shape (Gardening Australia, August 2026). If yours is still leafless, light structural cuts are fine. Once leaves and flower stalks appear, wait until next winter. Cut at a branch junction, just outside the collar, not halfway along a branch.
4. Roses (deadhead only)
In spring, deadhead back to just above a leaf joint, as if you were picking the flower. Then, following Flower Power's Sydney rose guide:
- Mid-January to early February: a light summer prune of flowered stems, then feed and water, for a strong autumn flush.
- July: the main hard prune. Early July is fine in warm coastal areas like ours.
- Leave the thick red "water shoots" from the base. They're the plant's future framework. Do remove suckers from below the graft.
- Roses that flower only once a year are pruned straight after flowering.
Before you prune anything big: check the tree rules
Every North Shore council protects trees. In Ku-ring-gai, a "tree" is anything 5 m or taller, or with a trunk 150 mm or more across at ground level. Without approval you can only do minor pruning of branches up to 50 mm in diameter, following the Australian pruning standard. Topping a tree to reduce its height generally isn't allowed. There are no exemptions at all on heritage-listed properties, in heritage conservation areas, or for trees in threatened ecological communities such as Blue Gum High Forest, Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest and Duffys Forest. There, any tree work needs an application. My council garden rules guide sets out the details, and anything high is a job for an arborist.
A good cut, every time
- Use clean, sharp secateurs. Ragged cuts invite disease.
- Cut just above a leaf joint or bud, angled so water runs off.
- Don't leave stubs. They die back.
- Bin diseased prunings rather than composting them.
For the rest of the year, see my free seasonal care calendar.
The most common pruning mistake I see is lopping a branch straight off instead of using a three-step cut. Lopping lets the weight of the branch tear the bark down the trunk. For any branch thicker than about 2.5 cm:
- Make an undercut about 30 cm out from the trunk, a third to halfway up through the branch.
- Make a top cut a few centimetres further out than the undercut. The branch breaks off there, taking the weight with it.
- Cut off the stub just outside the branch collar, the slightly swollen ring where the branch joins the trunk. Don't cut flush with the trunk, and don't leave a stub.
Help with your garden
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Sources
- ABC Gardening Australia magazine, Judy Horton, What should I prune?: https://www.gardeningaustraliamag.com.au/what-should-i-prune-now/ (spring: camellia, azalea, rhododendron, wattle, grevillea, banksia; summer-flowering shrubs incl. hibiscus, plumbago, oleander; summer: gardenia, repeat-flowering roses; timing varies by climate zone; cut above a node)
- Flower Power, Rose care for temperate climate gardens (Sydney): https://www.flowerpower.com.au/garden-advice/gardening/rose-care-for-sydney-gardens-pruning-feeding-pests/ (spring: deadhead to a node; light summer prune mid-January to early February for autumn flowers; winter hard prune July or early August, early July fine in warm coastal areas; don't prune water shoots; remove suckers below graft; once-flowering old roses pruned after flowering)
- ABC Gardening Australia, Pruning Hydrangeas (Jane Edmanson): https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/how-to/pruning-hydrangeas/9436792 (prune mopheads in winter to strong pairs of buds; unflowered stems pruned lightly as they'll flower next)
- ABC Gardening Australia, Top Tip: Pruning and Shaping Frangipanis (28 Aug 2026): https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/how-to/top-tip-pruning-and-shaping-frangipanis/107086770 (late winter to early spring while dormant and leafless; open the centre; cut at the branch junction outside the collar; three-cut method)
- ABC Gardening Australia magazine, Phil Dudman, Tips for pruning citrus: https://www.gardeningaustraliamag.com.au/time-prune-citrus/ (late winter to early spring; no all-over haircut; cut ~20% of canopy a year, about 30 cm inside the canopy line; remove dead, crossing wood; lift skirt to ~1 m; cut out and bin citrus gall wasp swellings)
- ANBG, Telopea speciosissima: https://anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2011/telopea-speciosissima.html (waratahs flower Sep–Oct in the Sydney region; cut canes back by at least half after flowering)
- Ku-ring-gai Council, Trees on your property and Tree FAQs: https://www.krg.nsw.gov.au/Environment/Your-local-environment/Trees/Trees-on-your-property and https://www.krg.nsw.gov.au/Environment/Your-local-environment/Trees/Trees-on-your-property/Tree-FAQs (tree = 5 m+ tall or trunk 150 mm+ at ground level; minor pruning exemption branches up to 50 mm, to AS 4373-2007; topping generally not permitted)
- Ku-ring-gai Council, Tree FAQs (archived copy; live page blocked automated fetch on 12 Oct 2026): https://web.archive.org/web/2025/https://www.krg.nsw.gov.au/Environment/Your-local-environment/Trees/Trees-on-your-property/Tree-FAQs (no exemptions on heritage properties, in HCAs or in STIF, BGHF and Duffys Forest; topping generally not permitted)
- Ku-ring-gai DCP Part 13.2 exemption 3, Minor pruning (branches and roots up to 50 mm, consistent with AS 4373-2007), as quoted in Elith v Ku-ring-gai Council [2024] NSWLEC 1757: https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/NSWLEC/2024/1757.html
- NSW WeedWise, Murraya: https://weeds.dpi.nsw.gov.au/Weed/Murraya ('Exotica' cultivar has become an environmental weed in parts of NSW; spread by birds; general biosecurity duty)
- Three-cut method: Colorado State University Extension, Pruning Cuts https://extension.colostate.edu/resource/pruning-cuts/ (branches over 1 inch; undercut 12-15 in from the union, one-third to halfway through; top cut directly above or a couple of inches further out; final cut just outside the collar; never flush cut); Virginia Tech Extension SPES-403 https://accomack.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/430/430-456/SPES-403.pdf (undercut about 12 in from the trunk, top cut about 1 in further out)
- Hedge trimming frequency: University of Georgia Extension, Bulletin 961 Pruning Ornamental Plants in the Landscape https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/publications/B961/pruning-ornamental-plants-in-the-landscape/ ('Formally pruned hedges ... require frequent shearing, sometimes three to five times during the growing season'; 'To develop a dense, compact hedge ... prune regularly'); Iowa State University Extension, How to Prune Formal Hedges https://yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/how-to/how-prune-formal-hedges ('2 to 4 times (possibly more) during the growing season')