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.

Oak trees have been around for more than 50 million years, with individual trees easily living 1,000 years. One of the oldest oak trees in the U.S. is believed to be at least 2,624 years old. The ...