End of winter/beginning of spring is the best time to conduct light and hard prunes.
Light pruning consists of removing any cold-damage, leggy or expired stems, along with suckers (which appear at the base of trees), and thinning out foliage, especially if it’s restricting flowers or buds.
On the other hand, hard prunes consist of removing and thinning a larger amount to encourage lots of new growth. This is done in drastic situations or with fast growing perennials like grasses and lantana.
And we’re nearing the end of Crape Myrtle pruning season here in Central Florida; they should start pushing out foliage and buds soon. Please note, we do not recommend drastically cutting back all the branches, especially if it’s healthy. Just remove any spindly branches and shape it so the growth is pointing up. If your Crape is already pushing out lots of growth, wait until after the blooming season to prune.
Regardless of how much or what you’re pruning, always cut at an angle, this helps with water runoff and avoids rot.