On Saturday, April 21, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens horticulturists Syretha Brooks and Will Bridges will kick off the first in a three-part series, “Pruning through the Seasons.”

Pruning can be intimidating, but in this series of workshops, participants will learn the best pruning practices for every season. Each specialized, seasonal class reveals the considerations behind pruning decisions, the best tools for the job and offers participants a chance to head out into the Gardens and experience firsthand the staff’s pruning practices. “Spring,” the first course of the series—and the first of the Gardens’ stellar lineup of educational offerings—covers plants that can be pruned before summer, including fruit trees, hydrangeas, grasses and groundcovers. Pruning practices for spring-blooming shrubs will be demonstrated as well.

Formerly a horticulturist at New York City’s Wave Hill Gardens, Brooks blends her horticulture and fine-arts backgrounds into designing and maintaining the Gardens’ Great Lawn and Arbor Garden beds. Having gardened in Maine most of his life, Bridges, a graduate of UMaine with a degree in landscape horticulture, manages the Lerner Garden of the Five Senses.

The spring pruning course runs from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on April 21. Fees include admission to the Gardens for the day. Register online or call the Gardens at 633-8008. Visit CMBG online at www.mainegardens.org.