mulch, was exceptionally green, looking as though it would send forth a flower
bud at any moment. Following a month of sporadic snow cover and temperature
extremes from –10 to 50°F, by late February many of these 50 species had become
bedraggled, turning to mush. Some still looked good, however, including the
poppies, Penstemon digitalis, and Phlox stolonifera, with just a touch of bronzing on
some of them.
With some plants, like pulmonaria, you can’t be sure what they’re going to do.
I have several different species and cultivars of Pulmonaria, and sometimes they
hold up nicely into the winter and other years they are black by late autumn. On
some plants just the outer leaves blacken and the inner foliage is nice. I still leave
them unpruned or just prune the outer foliage and either cut them down over
the winter or in the spring.
Some perennials should not be cut down in the autumn because they can
My mixed borders in winter.PruninG to PrePare for Winter and PruninG to PrePare for sPrinG 131