Decide how and when to prune something

Secateurs in hand and a real fear of cutting off next year's flowers.

Tell me how to prune the plant below.

1. **When.** The correct season for this species, and crucially whether it flowers on old or new wood, since that decides everything. Say what happens if I prune at the wrong time.
2. **Why prune it at all.** Shape, size, health, productivity, or rejuvenation. The goal changes the cuts.
3. **The order of cuts.** Dead, damaged, diseased first, then crossing branches, then structure, then size. Tell me how much of the plant can safely come off in one year.
4. **Where exactly to cut.** Relative to buds, nodes, collars, and which direction the remaining bud should face.
5. **What I will break if I get it wrong**, and whether the plant recovers.

If the honest answer is that this plant needs no pruning, or that this year it should be left alone, say that and explain why rather than finding me something to cut.

Plant, age, and size:
What it is doing that I want to change:
When it flowers or fruits, if I know:
Time of year now, and where I am:

Routine care. Watering tests, repotting calls, pruning timing, compost mixes, and taking cuttings that root.