Waiting until the leaves drop in fall is a rule of thumb for pruning shade trees, mainly because you can see bare limbs better, and the job is less “messy” without leaves attached to the cut branches.

A close-up of an oak leaf with bumps, or galls, from the gall wasp, Photo courtesy Getty Images. Welcome to our tree column, “Ask your local arborist.” Each month, arborists from the Davey Tree Expert ...

Q: The drought has caused our very large oak trees to shed a ton of leaves, how should we handle this? Rake them up or just shred with the mower? There's very little grass under the oaks as it is, ...

Warning: This graphic requires JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript for the best experience. Not all trees drop their leaves in the fall. Even in the height of winter ...

It is a good time to plant shade trees because the weather is relatively mild and the new trees can work on producing a root system before they are faced with the challenges of a Central Texas summer.