February Is the Key Pruning Window for These 10 Plants – Make the Cut Now Before Dormancy Breaks

Pruning is a chore not all gardeners are excited to tackle, but it’s so important. Pruning keeps plants healthy and vigorous, it helps you manage the size and appearance of shrubs and trees, it can rejuvenate older plants, and can even stimulate flower growth and fruit production.

Following the proper pruning basics includes good timing. Some plants should be pruned in the fall or spring, but others benefit from a trim now in February. Late winter pruning is a great way to set up your garden for success in spring and beyond.

These are the plants you should prune now before dormancy breaks. Find out which ones need a trim and learn some helpful tips for making the best cut.

Essential Pruning Tools

Pruning Basics

Some plants require more specific steps for pruning, but generally you can follow these tips for success:

• Always use sharp, clean shears or pruners. Our team of gardening experts recommend these bypass pruners from Fiskars for clean and easy cuts. Dirty and dull blades damage branches and can introduce disease.
• Remove any damaged, diseased, or dead branches or stems. Remove suckers.
• Then trim for shape, size, and to rejuvenate a plant. Avoid removing more than one-quarter of the plant during a single year’s trimming. There are some exceptions to this rule, however, such as with seriously overgrown shrubs.
• Trim to prevent crossed branches rubbing against each other, to create a desired shape or balance, and to let more light into the interior of the plant.
• Make 45-degree cuts just above buds or nodes. Cut above outward-facing buds to promote outward growth and above inward-facing buds to promote inward growth.

Plants to Prune in February

Now that you understand the basics of pruning properly, let's take a look at some of the plants that will benefit from a trim this month.

1. Roses

The end of dormancy is the ideal time to prune your rose bushes, but don’t wait too long. The timing will depend on your climate and weather. In warmer climates, you can get away with pruning these plants in January, but for many gardeners, February is better. If you prune roses when the weather is too cold, you risk causing damage.

You also don’t want to wait until you see significant new growth. When the time is right, remove dead and broken branches, crossing branches, and suckers. Trim off any older, woody growth as well. In general, healthy rose bushes don’t need drastic pruning. Focus on the most problematic stems and canes.

2. Boxwood

While you can lightly trim your boxwood shrubs in spring or summer, reserve your heaviest trimming for late winter. February is a great time to cut back these shrubs by one-third or less. Make selective cuts by following branches back to a main stem and cutting there. The goal is to open up the center of the shrub to allow in more light and air.

Boxwood is an ideal shrub for shaping, as long as it is healthy. Allow it to get to a dense, healthy state and then trim the outside to create formal shapes with sharp or round edges. You can use manual hedge shears, like these extendable ones from Fiskars, or make quick work of your winter pruning with electric hedge trimmers, like this cordless model from Black+Decker.

3. Hornbeam

This small deciduous tree, often used as a hedge, can benefit from a February trim. This is the best time for a hard rejuvenation trim to keep hornbeam trees neat, tidy, and healthy. The one-third rule applies here as well, so avoid going too far when trimming out crossed branches or those preventing light and air from getting to the interior of the hedge.

For a tight and dense hedge, focus on removing newer growth, some of which can be cut back to old growth. Trim your hedge so it is slightly narrower at the top. This allows more light to get to the lower branches to maintain dense, bushy growth.

4. Smoke Bush

Smoke bush is a spring-blooming shrub with unique flower clusters that are light and frothy, reminiscent of smoke. Most shrubs that bloom in spring or early summer are best trimmed after flowering. But with the smoke plant, you can prune in February with great results.

Now is a good time for a rejuvenation pruning of your smoke bush. Remove dead and damaged branches and do some light shaping to encourage vigorous new growth. For light rejuvenation, cut some stems back to an outward-facing bud to promote dense growth.

If your plant is very overgrown, you can also prune your smoke bush in February and cut it way back, leaving as little as 12 inches (30 cm) above the ground.

5. Apple & Pear Trees

You shouldn't prune fruit trees of every kind in late winter, but you can and should prune apples and pears in February. As always, remove dead or damaged branches, but mostly focus on getting more air and light to the center of the tree. This will encourage it to produce more flowers and fruit in the upcoming season.

To do this, remove some of the branches from the interior and any crossed branches. Make cuts at buds that face outwards. This will encourage new branches to grow outward, rather than in toward the center of the tree. Aim to cut the tree back by about a third. For taller trees, use a pole saw and pruner, like this one from Fiskars, to make cuts safely.

Resist the urge to prune stone fruit trees that are vulnerable to silverleaf disease at this time of year. Cherries, apricots, plums, and peaches can pick up the disease through the cuts you make in late winter.

6. Smooth & Panicle Hydrangeas

If you have hydrangeas in your garden, make sure you can identify the type before picking up your pruners. Some types of hydrangeas bloom on old wood and some bloom on new wood. Bigleaf and oakleaf hydrangeas flower on old wood, so if you prune off that wood in February, you’ll also trim off this year’s flowers.

Smooth hydrangeas and panicle hydrangeas bloom on new wood. For these shrubs, now is the time to do any necessary hydrangea pruning. You’ll get rid of some of the old wood, but not the new growth on which flowers develop later in the season. Make sure you do this now, before dormancy breaks.

When pruning panicle hydrangeas, focus on light trimming for shape and size. Smooth hydrangeas grows pretty quickly, so you can trim them back more aggressively. Not all hydrangeas need a lot of trimming, but removing problem branches and doing some additional light shaping will encourage bigger flowers.

7. Fall-Fruiting Raspberries

Fall-fruiting, or fall-bearing, raspberries bear fruit in late summer and early fall. This type of raspberry is best trimmed in late winter. The canes you leave in place over winter provide good habitat for wildlife. It can also be a food source if you leave any berries on the canes.

You can prune fall-bearing raspberries quite aggressively in February. Don't wait too late in the season to cut back these edible berries. Take care that you trim plants before you see any new growth peeking up at the crown. Then cut all the canes down to the ground.

8. Ornamental Grasses

Like your fall berries, ornamental grasses can be left in place all winter. They provide habitat for small critters, but also offer visual interest in winter. Unless you live in a climate that can get warm and wet, leave the grass in place and it won’t rot or succumb to disease.

Around this time of year in many places, it’s time to prune ornamental grasses all the way back to the ground. This makes room for the new growth that will soon appear and keeps your beds and gardens tidy.

9. Wisteria

Wisteria doesn’t slot neatly into the late summer vs. late winter pruning schedule. This is an aggressive vine that grows quickly and vigorously and is best pruned twice a year. In summer or fall after flowering, you’ll prune the vine to shorten new shoots, remove suckers, and remove any shoots you don’t feel contribute to the main framework.

For the late winter pruning of wisteria, which can happen in February right before dormancy ends, you can really focus on shaping. Without leaves, you can better see the overall structure of the vine. Trim and shape the vine for size and structure as much as you like. It’s almost impossible to prune wisteria too much.

Also focus on trimming lateral branches on the main vine, leaving three to five buds each. This will help the vine put more energy into abundant flowering rather than leaf growth.

10. Woody Herbs

If you leave woody aromatic plants outside year-round, late winter or early spring is a good time to do some much-needed herb pruning. This applies to herbs like lavender, rosemary, sage, and thyme. Removing some of the older growth makes room for new growth and keeps the plant shapely, smaller, and avoids leggy growth.

Don’t remove more than one-third of each plant. Avoid cutting the woody growth back too far. It might not recover from a complete cut back. This is especially true for lavender. Sage is best suited to a heavy pruning and removal of some of the older wood. Micro-tip snips, like these ones from Fiskars, are the perfect size and shape for pruning herbs.