Dormant Winter Pruning: Benefits, Tips & Step-by-Step Guide

Winter pruning isn’t just about maintenance—it’s a way to give your garden a fresh start. Pruning in the Winter months before plants are actively growing is essential for plant health. It allows for the removal of old, tired growth, creating space for the plant to reinvigorate itself.

February is the perfect time for dormant pruning. As buds begin to swell, they help indicate which branches are viable and which may have died off during Winter, giving you the chance to set your shrubs, trees, and perennials up for a thriving season ahead.

The Difference Between Winter Pruning & Summer Pruning

While Summer pruning aims to control or limit growth, Winter pruning is all about encouraging regeneration and shaping the plant for long-term health.

Pruning in the Winter focuses on the plant’s ideal form and structure, rather than shearing for a neat, uniform appearance. Dormant pruning seeks to remove thick, tangled growth and crossing branches, opening space for light and air once the plant leafs out again. By thinning back to the strongest stems, you make room for new shoots, vibrant blooms, and comfortably hanging fruits.

Which Plants Benefit from Dormant Winter Pruning?

• Many evergreen shrubs, such as Camellias, Rhododendrons, and Pieris, bloom in the Spring, so avoid pruning their outermost growth in Winter. That said, these shrubs are perfect candidates for Winter pruning focused on removing dead or damaged branches. This helps improve air circulation, supports overall plant health, and keeps them looking their best while in bloom.
• Hedges can be sheared in the Winter if they aren’t too wet and if temperatures are above freezing. This helps crisp up the edges of the plant, leaving them looking tidy until they start to push new growth in the Spring.
• Roses require dormant, Winter pruning—the harder the pruning, the stronger the regrowth will be!
• Twig Dogwoods, grown for their vibrant stem color, should be pruned hard at the end of Winter, as the new growth they produce in the Summer will provide even better color the following year.
• Fruiting trees like apples, pears, and plums should be pruned in the Winter to create space for the coming season’s crop. The buds that will produce flowers and then fruits are fatter and scalier than the slim buds that produce leaves. Stems with only leaf buds can be pruned back to junctions that carry the swollen buds of the fruiting stems.
• Maples can be pruned in the Winter to enhance the beautiful structure of the plant and remove any dead branches that are a result of winterkill.
• Deciduous shrubs that were incorrectly sheared in the past can be thinned out when they are leafless, and dormant pruning will help return them to their ideal shape.

Though the range of deciduous trees and shrubs to prune is broad, the same basic principles apply regardless of the plant!

How to Dormant Prune Shrubs & Trees

Clean and sharpen your full set of pruning tools—pruning shears or secateurs, loppers, and pruning saws. Always use the right tool for the job to avoid tearing branches or bark (and to save your back from unnecessary strain!).

• Use pruning shears for branches under ½-inch diameter
• Use loppers for branches under 1 ½-inch diameter
• Use a pruning saw for branches above 1 ½-inch diameter

Felco and Niwaki are our preferred providers of high-quality pruning tools. We love Felco pruning tools for their timeless reliability and wide range of replacement parts, and Niwaki pruning tools for their solid minimalism and stylish appearance.

2. Identify any dead branches and remove them entirely, pruning all the way back to healthy, viable branches or the base of the plant, as needed. The dead branches will feel brittle when you move them with your hand, will appear greyer than the other branches, and will not end in any leaves or have swollen buds.

3. Remove branches that are crossing each other. Crossing branches create wounds and congestion inside of the plant and should be removed. Select the weaker of the two branches and remove it back to a stem junction, leaf node, or set of buds.

4. Step back and consider the appearance of the plant, and make selective cuts to a stem junction or a set of leaves or buds to create balance. If a branch is too high, hangs at an odd angle, or is going off in a direction all on its own, consider pruning it back. Asymmetry may be desired depending on the placement of the shrub and the style of your garden, but in general, seek to prune towards a uniform, open shape.

Dormant pruning in the Winter encourages strong, healthy regrowth and prepares your landscape for a vibrant season ahead, making this the perfect time to care for your plants and stay connected to your garden, even during the chilly, quiet months. Don’t forget to visit our garden centers for expert tips, or join one of our gardening classes to get hands-on guidance and set yourself (and your plants!) up for success this Spring!