When Should You Prune Your Trees and Shrubs? Learn More

Pruning is a vital part of keeping the trees and shrubs in your landscape healthy and attractive. But when is the right time to do it? We’re here to answer that question for a whole range of popular garden plants. From roses, fruit trees and hydrangeas to deciduous and flowering trees, we’ll tell you when’s the best time of year for pruning, whether you do it yourself or hire a professional.

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Why Prune?

Before you head outdoors and start cutting away at the shrubs and trees in your garden or consider forgoing pruning, here’s why pruning is important.

Encourages strong branching and removes weak or crossing branches
Eliminates dead or diseased wood
Stimulates new, attractive growth
Helps improve resistance to windy conditions
Promotes good air circulation, which decreases the incidence of fungal disease

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When to Prune

In general, when to prune your plants comes down to whether your plants bloom on old or new growth.

Roses. Most roses in the garden are modern roses, which include hybrid teas, floribundas and newer shrub roses. They produce flowers on new growth formed in the same year.

These roses should be pruned when they are dormant, just before the leaf buds begin to swell. In mild-winter climates, prune in mid- to late-winter, while colder zones should prune in spring after the threat of frost has passed.

What Kind of Roses Should You Grow?

Flowering shrubs with pale green and white blooms line a stone retaining wall beside a house.

Hydrangeas. These flowering shrubs are divided into two different groups, which determines if they should be pruned in late winter to early spring or summer. Hydrangeas that bloom on new growth should be pruned in late winter or early spring. These hydrangeas bloom in midsummer into fall and include panicled (Hydrangea paniculata) and wild hydrangeas (H. arborescens).

Hydrangeas that produce blooms on old growth should be pruned back in late summer, after they finish flowering in late spring to early summer. Bigleaf (H. macrophylla) and oakleaf hydrangeas (H. quercifolia) bloom on old wood.

When Is the Right Time to Prune Your Hydrangeas?

Pale purple lilac blossoms among broad green leaves against a dark, blurred background.

Flowering shrubs. Generally, shrubs that flower in summer to early fall are best pruned in late winter to early spring. Shrubs that bloom in early spring to early summer flower on old wood and should be pruned in summer, once their flowers have faded.

Lilac shrubs (shown here) bloom in spring and early summer and should be pruned after the blooms have faded.

How to Prune Your Flowering Shrubs for the Best Blooms

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Needle-bearing shrubs and trees. Plants with evergreen foliage, such as yew, are best pruned in early spring, while still dormant.

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Deciduous trees. Prune trees that lose their leaves when they are leafless and dormant. This will be in winter or spring, depending on where you live, before the trees begin to leaf out.

Pruning when trees are stripped of their leaves allows you to see their branch structure more clearly, making it easier to determine where to prune and enabling the pruning cuts to heal more quickly with the flush of spring growth. The tree is also best able to replace branches lost to pruning in spring, when the tree’s resources are dedicated to growth.

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Unripe green apples hang among broad leaves on a tree branch.

Fruit trees. Fruit trees like apple, cherry, peach and plum should be pruned in late winter, when they are dormant, before the leaf buds begin to swell and open.

As with other deciduous trees, pruning in winter allows you to clearly see where to prune, and the pruning cuts heal quickly in spring when the tree is focusing its resources on growth. In addition, pruning before spring invigorates the tree, promoting fruit development by getting rid of unproductive branches and aiding in the growth of new branches.

How to Prune Your Fruit Trees in Winter

Spring garden with a large pink-flowering tree and white flowers across the lawn.

Flowering trees. Trees that bloom in summer develop flowers on new growth that has occurred in the same year, and they can be pruned in late fall through early spring. Early blooming trees, such as dogwood, should be pruned in summer, once the flowers have faded. These trees, which bloom in spring into early summer, produce their blooms on growth from the previous year.

Houzz: When Should You Prune Your Trees and Shrubs?