Master Gardeners are available in University of Illinois Extension offices throughout northern Illinois to help identify plant problems and offer suggestions for managing those problems. Bring them a good representative sample of your problem and accurate information on the overall appearance of the plant and how it has been cared for. Most pine trees can be pruned in June. Watch for the candles, or new growth on the ends of the branches, that are the key to pruning pines. Pinching back the new candles can help create a denser and more compact pine.
Unpruned pines tend to have larger spaces between branch whorls.
Prune back candles as soon as they have elongated. Shrubs that are just completing blooming can also be pruned now. Lilacs are a good example. Prune out older, less productive stems to keep new growth coming on multistemmed shrubs. This helps keep the shrub producing large amounts of flowers.