Many trees and shrubs should have already been pruned, either during the dormant season or shortly after flowering. There is still time, however, to prune shrubs like azaleas, camellias, and other spring flowering shrubs that haven’t been pruned this year. My parents don’t have any of these in their yard, but I do. Maybe I can convince one of my children to come help me prune the spring flowering shrubs this year. I would probably still be the one pruning and them cleaning up all the cuttings, but the help would be appreciated. I only have one camellia that needs to be cut back, but it is getting large enough now that it is shading out some of the plants we planted around it.

Other pruning that could be done is removing any dead, damaged or diseased limbs in the small trees and shrubs around the yard. I have a rose bush in the back that has just finished blooming and could use a good dead heading to encourage more flowering. I could do this for my dad as one of the things he does around the yard to keep the place looking nice and encouraging new growth on the roses that mom adores.