It's not easy to determine when you should begin pruning

Pruning may seem like a natural thing to do in late winter and early spring, but University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator Sharon Yiesla cautions that it depends on what you want to prune. Some woody plants can be successfully pruned in late winter/early spring, but others should be pruned at another time. Deciduous trees - those that lose their leaves in the winter - can be pruned while they are dormant. This is actually a good time, since it is easy to see the framework of the tree. Seeing the framework makes it easier to decide what needs to be removed. Pruning trees that have been in the landscape for a while consists mostly of maintenance pruning. Yiesla recommends removing branches that have been damaged by fall and winte