You might not be thinking about your garden beds right now since they’re covered in snow BUT the time to cut back woody perennials is approaching and now is a great time to study up and prepare!
First, let’s cover the basics. Pruning is the essential task of cutting back dead, damaged, or unnecessary parts of a plant to facilitate better health and growth for the upcoming season. Trimming is removing old foliage and cutting back overgrowth to maintain the desired shape and size for the plant. You can CHOOSE to prune/trim your plants OR not do it at all. Old, decaying foliage does provide habitat and food for animals and insects in the winter so if you decide to wait to clean up your landscape beds until spring it’s not laziness, it’s environmentalism! 🙂
There are different times of the year that cutting back serves the plant best, and different types of plants follow different timelines as well, so we will discuss a general rule of thumb for our area but it’s ALWAYS a good idea to do individual research for the specific plants you have in your landscape.
For us in Zone 6, we are approaching the best time of year (late winter/early spring) to prune back woody perennials like: spirea, weigela, hydrangea, barberry, butterfly bushes, and rose of sharon. Closer to spring/ when spring arrives is a great time to cut back herbaceous perennials like: hosta, coneflowers, catmint, tickseed, and coral bells. The reasoning behind this timeframe is that these perennials bloom on NEW growth so removing old growth helps the plant focus on creating new growth and blooms in the growing season. Perennials like lilacs, which bloom on OLD growth should not be cut back until right after they have bloomed, usually in early/mid-summer, or you risk causing significant damage to growth and fewer blooms. Trees also have different rules, some bloom on old growth, some bloom on new so no general rule covers them and it’s best to research them per your need.
Now, HOW to prune! See the pictures and links below for visual references and examples of how we prune back woody perennials at the garden center. Happy haircutting!
Additional Resources:
Types of Pruning Cuts- Pics & Video
University of Kentucky- Basic Pruning Principles