Stephen Brueggerhoff, CEA – Horticulture, Brazos County AgriLife Extension; published 2/03/2026
All images unless otherwise noted by Stephen Brueggerhoff
Are you ready for spring pruning? Hands trembling in anticipation of cleaning up the yard after the freeze? I offer caution for a few weeks, assess the extent of the damage to your ornamental trees and keep your eye on a ten-day forecast to begin landscape maintenance tasks.
Make a Plan Before Pruning Trees
The best way to start any activity is with intention and a plan rather than jumping in with loppers at the ready. The reason we prune trees is to train, improve flower quality, restrict growth, and maintain basic architecture. Pruning during late winter is an appropriate season regarding a tree’s reduced metabolism. Keep in mind that pruning some plants such as azalea or gardenia will have to wait until after they express seasonal flowers. Follow guidelines promoted by Texas A&M Forest Service regarding pruning maintenance for oak trees to reduce the potential for oak wilt infection. More info online at texasoakwilt.org. Ornamentals with berries such as hollies and pyracantha produce fruit on old or second-year growth and require strategic pruning in the current year.
Thinning and Heading Pruning Cuts
Two types of pruning cuts used are thinning and heading. Thinning is the removal of entire branches to its point of origin, minimizing overall tree size and enhancing the structure. Heading cuts inhibit apical dominance, which is growth concentrated at the tip of a branch or stem. Once committed, heading cuts support shoot development along the side of a branch and below the cut. Limit your pruning by looking at the overall structure of your tree or shrub. Identify and remove all dead, broken or diseased limbs and prune the material back into a strong lateral branch. Removing this kind of material may be enough activity to maintain a natural shape for your trees. Commit additional corrective pruning such as removing narrow branch crotches or water sprouts on trees. A general rule of thumb for shaping is to trim no more than one third of the total canopy. You may have to delay additional pruning for another year depending on the amount of material to be removed.
Branches should be cut just outside a bark ridge and branch collar where the branch attaches to the trunk. With pencil-thin branches, make your pruning cut at a 45-degree angle above an outward facing bud or node. Make purposeful, clean cuts and always clean your tools and keep the blades sharp after use.
Shaping Shrubs
Two forms of shaping shrubs are formal and shaggy. If formal, the best practice is shearing the hedge form wider at the base than at the top. This technique avoids shading foliage at the base of the hedge. Shading can cause sparse growth at the bottom of the form and can create holes in the canopy. Species often trained into a round or box shape are Dwarf yaupon (Ilex vomitoria), Chinese fringe-flower (Loropetalum chinense), Glossy abelia ‘Sunrise’ (Abelia x grandiflora), Purple sage (Leucophyllum sp.), and even Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra). Shrubs like American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) or multi-trunk trees like Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia sp.) perform best by keeping them a bit shaggy and in their natural form using selective thinning cuts.
Basic Techniques for Pruning Fruit Trees
Fruit trees will soon show signs of annual growth, and it is now time to prune and shape them. Annual pruning fruit trees is essential for maintaining a balanced architecture supporting fruit development, increases new growth for next year’s production and enhances air circulation and light penetration through the canopy. Pruning is committed from mid-February to mid-March at a time when the trees are growing out of dormancy. Strategic heading and thinning encourage bud expression and vegetative growth. I have had an experienced orchardist tell me to prune peach trees just as the branches begin to blush; prune when the pink petals of the tree show through opening buds as they emerge from dormancy. Thinning can also mean selectively culling fruit, lighten the load and promote development of larger fruit.
Pruning to Form Central Leader or Open Canopy
The two primary forms used for different types of fruiting trees are called central leader and open canopy. Central leader is a pruning form used for pear, plum, persimmon and apple trees. The habit of these fruit trees is to sprout branches with vertical growth, and shaping uses a combination of targeted heading cuts and limb spreaders such as wood shims or weights tied in the middle of a supple scaffold branch to force it into a lateral structure. The result looks like a pyramid, and you will maintain a central trunk combined with heading cuts to encourage lateral branches that maintain the structure. Open canopy pruning is committed to stone fruit like peaches and nectarines, creating an open center structure and scaffold branches forming a vase shape. We’re creating a structure where fruit weight is evenly distributed throughout the canopy. There is additional information for you to explore regarding best pruning practices from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Earth-Kind® Landscaping program, as well as Fruit and Nut Resources online at aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu.
Keep conserving natural resources, maintain and sustain your trees and shrubs and I will see you in the garden.
