IT'S WINTER WORK TIME.

Byline: JANE GATES Gardening

Ifyou haven't pruned trees and shrubs yet, now's the time to do it.

Young fruit trees should be pruned according to the type of tree. Check gardening books for information on pruning specific types of trees. Details would be too extensive to try to cover in this column, but I do want to underscore that the shaping of your fruit trees in the first couple of years will set up the health and productivity of those trees for the rest of their lives.

Leave the more tender shrubs and trees such as hibiscus, brugmansia, citrus and abutilon alone in the cold of winter. Frost may cause some damage to outer branches that can be trimmed back in the spring. This goes for most perennials and climbers, too. For now, those cold-burned branches will form protection for the rest of the plant from winter's chill.

We're well into the frosty nights for the year, so hopefully your most delicate plants were already sheltered with an overhang or were placed close to the house. When frost hits, you want the soil to be moist enough that the roots don't freeze. But don't keep the soil wet because wet plus cold equals bad news for winter survival.

Temperatures have been known to dip to below 20 degrees in the Santa Clarita Valley, so if a real cold one is on the way, dragging potted tropicals into the house or garage might be the only option. Don't forget to return the protected plants to full light the next day. The hardier plants in the ground should have their protective mulch cozy around their roots, and a more delicate plant that cannot be moved will benefit from both mulch and a loose-fitting fabric cover at nighttime.

December, January and February are the best months to do some serious pruning. If your trees are overgrown and harbor dead branches, call in a tree trimmer. Make sure you have someone who knows and cares about your trees because different trees require different pruning.

If the job isn't done right, at best it might not grow properly and could become subject to insect attacks. At worst a poor job can leave wounds that damage a tree to the point it could die.

Pruning of roses depends on how you want your roses to grow. Look up proper pruning methods in a gardening book. Taking the bush down to about a foot tall will encourage long, strong growth in the spring. Cutting back less radically will produce shorter stems with a bushier look. You will get more, but smaller flowers.

Butterfly bushes (buddleia) benefit by being cut back severely. Most bushes can be shaped, and any decorative grasses that have gone into dormancy for the winter can be cut back low. If the grasses still hold their flowers, you may want to enjoy them a little longer and wait until February or March to cut them back. Another alternative is to cut the dried grass heads for indoor flower arrangements and crop back the parent plant now or later in the winter.

Pruning can be a science in itself. You're always safe cutting out dead wood. It's better to trim less if you aren't sure. But don't neglect young trees. Proper pruning when young not only establishes the beauty and health of the tree for the rest of its life, but helps it grow in a form that assures future safety for the people and structures around it.