Kaptox
Pruning windows, month by month
The windows are narrower than most people think, and they are not the same for every plant.
Last updated 29 September 2026
The general rule, and where it breaks
Most deciduous trees and shrubs are pruned while dormant – leafless, roughly January to March. There are two reasons, and both are practical. You can see the structure you are cutting into, and the plant is not spending energy it has just made.
The rule breaks in two specific places, and those two exceptions cause most of the disappointment.
Exception one: anything that flowers in spring
Forsythia, lilac, flowering currant and the rest set their flower buds the previous summer. Prune them in February and you are cutting off the flowers you were waiting for. Prune them straight after they finish flowering instead, which gives them the whole summer to make next year’s buds.
Exception two: plums, cherries and the other stone fruit
These are pruned in summer, not winter. Winter cuts on stone fruit are associated with silver leaf and bacterial canker, both of which spread in the damp cold months. Wait for dry, settled weather in mid-summer and the wounds close quickly.
A rough calendar
- January to March
- Apples, pears, most deciduous trees and shrubs, while bare. Not during a hard frost.
- April to May
- Spring-flowering shrubs, as soon as the flowers go over.
- June to August
- Plums, cherries and other stone fruit, in dry weather. Trained apples and pears for summer shaping.
- September to November
- Generally a poor time. Wounds heal slowly and the damp is against you.
Not sure which side of a rule your plant sits on? Tell us what it is on the contact page. It is a better question than which tool to buy.
Two habits worth having
Cut back to a bud or a branch rather than leaving a stub, because a stub dies back and the die-back travels. And clean the blade between plants if anything looks diseased – a wipe is enough, and it stops you carrying a problem around the garden on the tool.