Winter is the best time to prune—especially if some of your trees have gone a few years without being pruned and will require that a lot of wood be removed. When plants are dormant, they are better able to cope with the removal of a lot of branches, as may be needed when properly shaping and thinning out a tree or large-growing shrub. For most of Santa Fe County, the pruning season begins in late December and extends through mid-March. Plant dormancy is affected by temperatur