February Pruning

The old apple tree in the front yard at Hawksbill Cabin looks like it has been neglected for more than ten years. Even so, it produced a great crop of MacIntoshes in 2008 - apparently a late frost killed off many apple blooms in Page County in 2009 and the crop failed, including with our tree.

February is pruning month for apple trees in Virginia, as I understand it. So I am looking for advice about how we should approach it for this tree. I included the porch in the foreground for perspective - the tree is at least 30 feet tall. You can see forks at previous pruning points, and since each of these branches is more than four inches in diameter, I'm guessing it's been a long time since it was cut back.

Also, we have two of these little evergreen shrubs in the yard. I had thought they were some kind of weedy volunteer, but last weekend I took a closer look. This one has some kind of little bloom or seed coming off of it - right now, in January. It kind of looks like a rhodie but I'm not sure - readers, any thoughts?

Post a comment, and thanks!