You could safely prune usually but when plants are stressed, I try not to fertilize or prune. Pruning triggers a response to build new replacements, which is ok when all is fine but not if stressed by heat or lack of rain. For example, our temperatures have been above the 100-degree mark since aearly June, we had rain twice since then and so, my pruners have seen almost no action since May.

But I would not worry too much about that problem. We are near the start of Fall at which time the plant will go dormant and drop ALL the leaves anyways.

Thanks, Luis_pr. You are right about Fall being just around the corner. I will try to keep my pruners off them!