Before the leaves emerge this spring, take a close look at your woody ornamentals.

It's the perfect time to prune dead and damaged branches, cut back rampant growth and nudge your woody plants into a more pleasing shape.At this time of year, you can see the structure of your trees and shrubs.This makes it easier to remove suckers and crossed branches and open up dense areas. Another advantage is that the pruning wounds are exposed at a time when most insects are dormant.Pruning can reinvigorate shrubs that have older unproductive canes or have simply lost their shape and no longer look good in your landscape.Before you begin, check your tools to make sure they are clean and sharp. Disease is spread by dirty pruning shears, and dull tools leave ragged cuts that invite disease and insect invasion later on.Startingwith shrubsPruning shrubs is straightforward and can be fun. You will need to be armed with a bit of knowledge about how your shrub grows and how it will respond to pruning.It's important to maintain the natural shape or the results may not be what you expect.Put away your hedge clippers and get out your hand tools. You will need pruning shears for small branches up to 1/2-inch in diameter and lopping shears for thicker branches from 1/2 inch to 1-1/2 inches.For anything bigger, you will need a pruning saw.Hand pruners come in two styles. Scissor or bypass pruners have a thin curved upper blade that slides closely past a thicker lower blade.The anvil style pruner has a sharp upper blade that cuts down on a broad flat plate called an anvil.Shrubs that flower in mid to late summer (end of June) on wood produced that same year can be pruned in the early spring or late winter before growth starts.Don't prune spring blooming ornamentals like lilac and forsythia. Wait until they are done flowering.Prune to thin out a shrub so that more light and air can reach the interior.Prune to cut back a shrub that is outgrowing its spot in your landscape. And prune to renew a shrub that has stopped flowering because the canes are old and thick.The dark lines in the middle of the shrub in the illustration are old, woody canes that no longer produce flowers. They are removed to invigorate the shrub.Also, one-third of the branches are thinned out to open up the shrub. By pruning out branches that extend too far, the plant can be maintained at a given height and spread for years to come.What about trees?Mature trees seldom need pruning except to remove dead branches and limbs that interfere with automobile or foot traffic. Any other pruning should be done by a trained arborist.Prune young trees the first couple of years after planting. Remove undesirable and structurally weak branches to ensure that the tree develops a single leader (the primary trunk of a tree).Pruning reveals the correct structure for this tree and ensures that the limbs are far enough apart so they don't interfere with each other.Once this tree matures, it would be difficult and expensive to correct problems that can be avoided by maintaining it while it is small.With proper pruning, your trees and shrubs will be healthier and your landscape will look lovely.For more information about pruning, Penn State Extension publishes an informative online booklet called Pruning Ornamental Plants.Master Gardeners are located at the Penn State Extension Office, 529 Lentz Trail in Jim Thorpe.Call 570-325-2788 to ask a Master Gardener for help or information about your landscape.They will maintain a hot line every Tuesday, beginning March 18,