Let’s let go of our moaning. Snow in January is a good friend to the Toronto gardener. First, it’s precipitation; a long, cool drink for the garden. It’s an insulating blanket of snow for our tender plants, especially when the temps dip below normal, as they have in January 2011. But snow also offers a distraction-free backdrop that shows what’s really happening with your woody plants.

Take the young Japanese maple above, Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’. I did, last July (the worst possible month to plant a tree, especially a fancy one like this… but it was on sale, and I had my reasons.) The best way to ensure good form on a new tree is to select it carefully at the nursery. As this was a sale item, its shape might have been less than ideal. My snapshot tells me I have some pruning to do.

I recently read a good article on pruning young trees by Don Burnett in the March 2010 issue of Gardeners Central Magazine [Update: in 2016, the magazine is no longer being published]. This newish version of Gardeners West Magazine (there are versions for prairie and east-coast gardeners, too) isn’t flashy by any means, but it has good, practical gardening advice for home gardeners. Some articles, such as the one on pruning, are useful coast to coast. Others are regional. You can buy/download a back issue of the magazine through the link above. (I have no affiliation with the publisher.)

Burnett stresses the importance of establishing good structure – while the tree is young and the branches are small – to avoid problems later. We’ve all seen the amputated look that comes about when mature branches are pruned to correct a tree for size. It looks ugly, and the large cut opens the tree to disease.

In my tree, I can see crossing branches to fix, at least one with an undesirable kink, possible competing leaders, and a few branches that will grow into the pathway of my, well, my pathway. As it’s late winter, I can take out my sharp pruners now while the tree is dormant to make gentle corrections to enhance the natural shape of my tree.

Look at your trees before they deck themselves out in those distracting leaves and flowers. If yours isn’t best pruned at this time of year, tie a ribbon around the branches you think might benefit from removal, and cut them back when the time is right. You’ll thank yourself for it later.