<p>I am wondering how I should properly get rid of branches that no longer have any purpose. Right now even if i delete them and commit they are still listed as branches in the properties windows for a particular branching root (directory). If I select merge I don't get an option to merge to the deleted branch which obviously is as expected but therefore I am puzzled about the branch still showing up in the properties window.</p>

<p>Any explanation on this behavior would be greatly appreciated.</p>

The deleted branch is only marked as deleted at a moment in time and it's possible to still get to the code if you sync to a changeset or time before that delete operation.
If you do not want to have the file in the branch in the database at all you can use the
```
tf destroy
```
command line:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386005.aspx
As your branch is already deleted you'll need to use
```
tf dir /deleted
```
to find the deletion number of that branch in order to destroy the files.