PRUNE THAT THING!

Tomorrow I start to prune. There are many rules for pruning but the following are the main ones.
1) Do not cut away more than one third of a bush or tree. I cut much less.
2) Prune now, before the leaves come on the trees
3) Prune now because you can take the waste to the dump this week for free.
4) Use sharp clean tools. At the least, you need a good pair of secataurs for small branches and a good sharp small saw for larger ones.
5) Cut any branches that cross or rub each other or are rubbing on a fence or the house. The bark on these branches will rub away allowing disease into the tree. Remove all dead, broken, rotten, pulpy branches and all water shoots (soft pulpy branches that grow straight up). Take out any branches that slap you as you walk your garden paths. After a rain or a heavy dew, these branches can be annoying.
6) Don’t be too quick to pronounce a rose or other shrub as dead. Often they are slow to leaf up and many do not finish until June 1.
7) When removing larger branches, make a vertical cut close to the trunk.
8) Never “top” a tree. It’s a death sentence.
I'll prune my Preston and French Lilacs and snip off all the tangled branches on the Highbush Cranberry and the Nanny Berry. The crab apple and the mountain ash seem OK this year. Indeed the mountain ash is the neatest of trees. If you have a lot of trees and shrubs, it is worth checking out a book on pruning from the library. A recommended book is Northern Gardens by Brian Andrews but there are many tomes written on this subject. I learned to prune from my father. IMHO, the best way to learn is to watch someone who knows what they are doing.