Stop me before I prune!1

O.K., this is a "royal poinciana," a soft-wood flowering tree. It is a year and a half old. It was waist high when planted, but it had an unusually wet first summer and zoomed to ten feet plus high.

It's only mid-January, but there have been two freezes (MILD by the standard of the rest of the country), and while there is more winter, it is not likely to be anything much more than what is over. In fact, there's supposed to be a warming trend for the forseeable week. It is possible that a premature-Spring response might be triggered, ergo the pruning NOW.

So it's early for pruning maybe, maybe not. All the foliage has been down for a couple of months.

So this tree has a low-hanging splayed canopy. Should the pruning be by a saw or by a pinscher-type jaws thing? CLOSE to the host branch?

If you want to do some gardening, how about turning your compost or getting your seeds ready? Maybe you can start some seedlings in a window box.

(along with phonophobia, but that is another post) I have looked and looked at instructions for pruning and have come to the conclusion that you just have to do it when you can, as you can. Seems to be as many "ways" as there are recipes for making a pot of beans. This tells me you can pretty much do it however and whenever and you will still have a pot of beans. Timing might affect one year's fruiting of some things but...there does NOT seem to be consensus on how to prune!

Iow, not that that person KNEW!1

This particular tree seems to have taken the exception this THIS rule: "The first year (bushes) rest. The second year, they stretch. The third year, they ZOOM!1"