Pruning to prepare for winter is a matter of
personal choice. What some find attractive, others
may find distracting. With certain clients or certain
styles of gardens, things need to be neat and tidy for
the winter, and this involves more pruning in the
fall. With others, a more natural look is acceptable
and a “fallen soldier” here or there over the winter
can easily be removed in the spring with no harm
done. In my personal gardens I leave more perenni-
als up in the back gardens, which are more natural
and less visited by guests in the winter months, than
I do in my front entrance gardens—although these
too are rather wild looking over the winter. I also
like the option of leaving some things unpruned;
then if a plant declines by mid- or late winter I can
go out and cut it down at that point. It gives me
some gardening to look forward to during the
winter when weather permits. Pruning selectively
in the autumn or over the winter also helps ease the
burden of spring cleanup. Your spring schedule may
be an important factor in deciding what you leave
during the winter.
In the encyclopedia, I have indicated whether
pruning is needed for the winter for specific
perennials. In the Perennials by Maintenance Needs
chapter, list 33 includes some of the plants I don’t prune for the winter. In this
list it is assumed that the appropriate recommended pruning has been done
during the season. You need to remember all the factors that come into play in
determining whether a perennial should be pruned for the winter.
Perennials that are to be cut down for the winter should be cut down when
they are dormant; usually this is after several killing frosts. For me this is
generally early November, when we are scheduling our autumn cleanup for
clients, although in some years it has been late November. If perennials are cut
down too early, when they are still actively growing, one concern is that they
might put on new growth, use the carbohydrate reserves that were meant for
the following season, be hit by a freeze, and not return the following year.
Sometimes I will go ahead and cut down plants that are still very green or even
flowering if I know that within a few days a freeze will come along and turn the
plants to mush. If in doubt, you’re better off leaving the plant up.
Plants should be cut back to within about 2–3 in. of the ground. Cutting back
too close to the crown can cause certain plants to become damaged over the
winter. On some perennials, the overwintering buds are not beneath the soil,
but rather are either level with, above, or only slightly below the soil, so if you
cut back too close you may be cutting into these buds. I once did this with some
of my famous lady’s mantles. I used a string trimmer and cut a few of them back
too far. They were weak to emerge the following spring and parts of the crowns
never regrew. I also know some gardeners in colder climates who leave about 6
in. of stems to help trap the snow, and then cut back again in the spring.
Hedge shears are useful for most of the autumn cleanup. It’s quick work to
shear the plants off at their bases, then follow up with a garden fork to pick up
large piles of debris. Hand pruners may be needed on some very tough stems,
and I sometimes use a weed whacker with a rigid plastic blade for mass plant-
ings. Workers must wear protective clothing and safety goggles when using this
kind of equipment.
The intricate deadheads of
Eutrochium maculatum
‘Gateway’ are dazzling when
covered with frost.PruninG to PrePare for Winter and PruninG to PrePare for sPrinG 133