Hi wishccr,

Spring probably isnt really here, but it is definitely time to get your stuff cut down. I have almost everything done except a couple lavenders I didnÂt quite get finished. I usually cut most things down in fall or over winter, and I did get about half of it done this year, but not the restÂsince it was buried under 2-3' of snow all winter! If you wait too much longer, as you can see already, youÂll be getting so much new growth on the ends of the old stems that you wonÂt want to cut it off anymore, and then the plants will look ratty all summer because youÂll be looking at the old growth through the new growth. How far to cut? Everybody has a different idea! I cut almost everything down to about an inch above the ground. I really donÂt like that "old growth" look. And anything with basal growth is going to get completely new growth anyway, so clean off all the old leaves on things like shasta daisies. Chances of it getting cold enough to seriously damage anything now are pretty slim, but it they are predicting it to go down to the low 20's or teens, you can always throw an old towel or blanket over the things that might need a little extra protection. ÂPowis Castle and ÂMay Night shouldnÂt be a problem at all.

Oh, how I hope spring really IS here,
Skybird

Wonderful, thank you for the information Skybird! I was worried about how they would look this summer if I didn't start cutting back soon. I have never had such early growth, and I am really excited to start gardening.

In my new drought tolerant butterfly garden I planted in the fall I am thrilled to see that most of the perenials have tiny new growth at the base. Does cutting everything down now go for those too-cutting off last year's growth? I was thinking if it snows again the old growth will protect the baby new growth or is it choking the new growth?

Thanks,
Charlene

I think almost everybody has stuff growing way earlier than normal this year---at least along the front range. Most of my perennials that were cut back last fall look like they normally would about the middle to end of May. Some of the things I cut back within the last few weeks are just starting to get going now, but except for the things that are alway late, everything's going gangbusters!

Where are you? Foothills west of Denver?

Skybird

I'd cut them down now, Charlene. What do you have? For me, I find things get going better if they're cut down sooner. Once they're cut down, they can put all their energy into the new growth. The things I cut down last fall, or right after the snow melted off, are far ahead of the things I just cut down within the last couple weeks. I even cut my Gaura down about a month ago, and that's one that I DO leave some old growth on overwinter for a little bit of protection. Last year I waited too long and wound up cutting the tops off of the new growth to clear out the old wood, and it left it looking pretty bad for a while. If we DO get really cold temps (teens), I may throw something over that just to be sure, but almost everything can take care of itself by now. One year--about 10 years ago now--we did go down to single digits one night sometime in April I think it was, and if that happens, all bets are off! But, even then, covering things should work for almost everything.

Spring is fun!

Skybird

Skybird, you are so right about all "showing" a bit early. It is almost comfusing to me this year. Irises planted from a gardener's throw away last Aug. are a foot high. How I did this successfully is amazing. All of my xeriscape plants have started new growth too, and roses,etc.

And thanks for being such a great part of this group. It is really nice to have feedback....along with knowing you are taking the time out from your garden to log on.

I was out whacking back the clematis yesterday, they all had 3 inch shoots of green all the way up the old vines.

Thank you, emagin! I enjoy posting here, but especially at this time of the year I need to be careful to not get myself stuck in the house all day when theres so much to do outsideand its SO wonderful outside! In a few more weeks I hope to be able to go back to work from the surgery I had on my elbow last November, so then I wont be around here nearly as much! But there are lots of people around here with great information, so itll always be a place to get good answers!

And, whack, whack, whack, David! Even whacking can be fun when you stop to think how great its going to look as soon as it grows back from the "whack job!"

And I have one thing to mention that might help some of you who arent sure about this. The weathermen are talking about possible snow here in the Denver area by Friday night, and I just want to make the point that snow is a "protector!" If we/you get an inch or two of snow on top of yourcut down or not cut down perennialsyour plants are going to be perfectly ok. If theyre covered with snow, a temperature of 32 degrees will be maintained, and that shouldnt kill any healthy hardy perennial (assuming its hardened offwhich everything thats in the ground is) Its only when the temperatures drop dramatically after things have started rapid growth, and theyre not protected (by snow or something else) that youre going to have possible serious damage. I never really believed stuff under snow stays exactly 32 degrees until I saw it myself! After the BIG march blizzard we got in Denver a few years ago, I kept watching my thermometer which read the outdoor sensor, and for several days it remained EXACTLY at 32even though the sun was out shining brightly during the day, and it was getting considerably colder than that during the night. In total confusion one day I went out to check the remote sensor, andduhI found it buried under more than a foot of snow! As soon as I got it unburied and back out in the air again, I started to get the real temperature, but for as long as it was buried it never changed a fraction of a degree.

So dont worry about any of your perennials when the snow starts! Theyre gonna be fine! (If you fell into the "spring" trap and put petunias and tomatoes out-----WORRY!)

Headin out to the back yard now,
Skybird

After reading all the posts for a few weeks now I have been cutting stuff back but I have a question that will pickle you diehards! I don't know what some of my perennials are- the tag gets lost but I wonder if I should cut them back. So tell me, are there any plants that should NOT be cut back?

I don't know about other perennials, but I can say that I've been told not to cut back my lavenders until I see the little new green leaves beginning to come out. I think if you don't wait till then, you may cut back to wood that's too hard, and new growth won't come out of it. Anyway, this is how I treat my lavenders, and they're very healthy after five years in the ground.

But lavenders are a woody sub-shrub, and they're different than typical perennial flowers. So, I don't know if there are other perennials that would be sensitive to cutting back too early.

I would add too, that just in case you're thinking of cutting back some shrubs this time of year, make sure you do not cut back any of the spring-flowering shrubs yet, or you'll lose all your flowers for the season. Those need pruning after the bloom is over. This includes forsythia, lilacs, flowering cherry, or any other shrubs that get their flowers early in spring.

Anyone else have thoughts?

Berries Steve/Skybird?

Some of the clematis bloom much better on old growth. The white one Henrii comes to mind.

Looking around at the perennial flowers I have that don't require cutting back, they are pretty obvious because they are all green all ready. Huechera (coral bells) is all green now. Everything else is full of dead stalks.

I found out one spring that even if you don't go out and break off and remove the dead stalks off of plants, by the end of June, it is very hard to notice the difference.

Yeah, when you're talking about cutting back plants, vines and berries are also things that need special attention. I know my raspberries get cut back in summer after fruiting (only the canes that produced that year are cut to the ground, while all the new canes are left to grow for next year). That's because they only produce fruit on last year's new growth.

For clematis vines, it all depends on the kind you have, if you have any of them. A google search will reveal a lot on clematis pruning.

But if we're back to talking about perennials, I'm not sure what else besides lavender needs caution with regards to cutting back at this time of year.

Hi matoad,

Im a little bit late to the party this time! Ive been planning to come back to respond to your post, but Ive been out in the yard trying to get a bunch of stuff done before the rain we got today, and, in the meantime everybody else beat me to it! I only have a couple things to add!

First, if youre able to post pictures of your unidentified perennials when the foliage is getting big enough to be realistic, we can probably help you identify them. If so, itll help a lot in knowing how to take care of them. (Just dont ask me how to post the photos! LOL All I know is that you have to have a photo hosting site first!)

As Steve said, for any spring blooming shrubs or bushes, if you want to prune or cut them back, do it right after they finish blooming. For sure dont prune them after midsummer, or you will very likely not get any flowers the following spring. The same thing is true for some roses toothe ones that bloom on old wood only. That means the only canes (branches) theyll get flowers on next year are the ones that grow this year. Theyre also the ones that usually bloom like mad for a few weeks in spring or early summer, and then dont bloom anymore for the rest of the summer. So if you have any of those, do the same as with spring blooming bushesprune immediately after blooming, and then not again until after the next bloom. Most roses these days, though, are ever blooming, so unless you have some really old ones around, youre probably ok to prune them whenever the spirit moves you! If youre not sure, watch them this year to see if they keep blooming all summer or not.

I really dont know much about berries and other small fruits, but I do agree with what Steve says about raspberries. Somewhere in the hinterlands of my brain I think I remember hearing that one time. And if you should happen to have any other small fruits or vines, I think Id google them first before doing anything to them. Or ask for plant specific adviceOR post a picture if youre not even sure what to ask about! Somebody around here will know if you/we can figure out what you have!

On the topic of clematis, heres a link to a really great site all about clematisincluding pruningwhich can be kind of confusing for clematis! If you ever decide to put some in, BE SURE you keep the name, because theres three different ways to prune themand it all depends on the variety you have.

And Lavender! Thats a very different animal! As Steve has already said, theyre sub-shrubs, which means theyre not really shrubs, and theyre not really perennials, but kind of a cross between the two! You definitely cannot cut the old stems down below where you can see any new growth starting, so if you have old lavenders that have gotten big, you will probably never be able to get them all the way back down short again. If lavender has gotten big, you CAN prune it back enough to get it to fill in and look bushier, but just be sure youre always leaving at least a couple visible leaf buds below your cut.

I dont like tall, woody looking lavender, so I keep mine short from the very beginning. New plants I leave do their own thing until after theyre done blooming. Then I cut them back severely and let them fill in short and bushy for the rest of the season. I then leave that growth on over winter, and when theyre just starting to grow the following spring I cut them back almost all the way to the ground, making sure theres either new growth left on the individual stems, or else that I can see new growth coming directly out of the base of the plant.

For older plants, if you want to get them back short/shorter again, there are a couple things you can try. If theyre more than a couple feet tall, this will probably NOT work! If theyre shorter than that, you can cut them back as far as possible, still leaving at least a couple leaf buds on each stem, and that will often force new growth further down the stem, and then you cut them gradually back further and further, OR, you can cut about a third of the stems all the way down, and that will often force new growth directly out of the crown, and then you cut down another third and wait again, and then cut off the last third. Either way, theres a fairly good chance you can gradually get them back down, BUT, since lavender reseeds so easily, I find it easier to just leave a few of the seedlings come up new each year, and then I dont have to worry too much about how I handle the older ones. If they last a couple more years, thats greatif they dont, they dont! So, thats the poop on lavender! (Hopefully not cat poop!) There are a few other fairly common perennials that are sub-shrubs too, like lavender cotton (Santolina), so if you have anything that "should be" a perennial, but feels "woody" like a shrub, be a little bit careful until you identify it for sure.

Other than that, I cant really think of any other perennials that require much special treatment at this time of the year. My Gaura I cut down partway in fall and dont cut all the way down in spring until I can clearly see new growth starting, but thats one thats not totally reliable in z5. And I agree with David about things that are evergreen. With things like Heuchera that are usually evergreen all winter, I just pull together the newest leaves in the middle, and then cut around the outside of the plant, trimming off all the older leaves that are starting to get a little ratty looking. By getting rid of some of the older leaves, you also promote faster growth of the new leaves, so they get a "fresh" look more quickly. So anything you have that still looks pretty good, just go over them and trim off anything that isnt looking so good anymore. Everything else that didnt stay evergreen, I recommend cutting all the way downmeaning an inch or two above the ground, but, since its been so warm out already, watch carefully to be sure your not cutting off new growth too.

Lordy! This was just gonna be a quick little post here! I think its bedtime!

Nighty-night,
Skybird

P.S. Just to repeat something Ive said around here before, Mary Ann, the only dumb question is the one you dont ask, so dont be afraid to check in with us diehards when youre wondering something. ;-)

I have experimented with cut back time and have found this works best for my gardens: Most perennials are cut back in the fall, except the ones that have proven they provide nice winter interest (this is what I "threaten" them with..."look nice and you get to say... if not, down you go." Most plants do well this way. When spring comes it helps not to have to tread around the nice soft earth and inadvertently step on some unseen emerging bulbs. I leave the Powes Castle for last but can't stand the way it looks when everything else is cleaned up. Russion Sages get to stand the winter unless too much snow makes them "floppy." And I love the straw-like heads on the Blue Mist Spirea.
I've found most perennials to be very forgiving about when they are cut back. What great plants they are!

Pookyspal

Quote: this is what I "threaten" them with..."look nice and you get to say... if not, down you go."

Thats funny, pal, cause thats what I do with "winter interest" stuff! But this winter all the "interest" turned out to be the SNOW! My ornamental grasses were FINALLY just getting big enough to put on a show, but when the snow finally melted off, they were TOTALLY smooshed down, and I chopped them off as soon as I had a chance. Maybe next winter!

Now back to the spring interest stuff, ;-)
Skybird

The only thing I don't cut back in the fall are the mums. I read somewhere that they will survive the winter better if the old growth is left on, so I just cut mine back this past week, and sure enough there was new growth underneath. They were the cheapy ones Walmart sells in the fall, that a lot of folks say don't overwinter, but mine always have, so I attribute that to not cutting them back in the fall. Can't remember the source of that info., so I guess it's just my 2 cents worth : )

The only things I cut back LATE are lavender, caryopteris, russian sage, and my roses (only if there's winter damage). Everything else gets cleaned up before the new growth starts.

Nancy

What do youall do with cutting back Butterfly bushes? When and how short. I have a few 8 footers. They were pruned back to about 2 feet last spring and they bloomed OK-- not heavily. Do something different this spring? What about smoke bushes? Mine tend to die back almost to the ground so I don't get puffs. I haven't seen where this year's growth will be, the shrub is now 5 tears old.

For Butterfly bushes, I'd give them until the last week of April / first week in May, and then cut them. I have, I dunno, a couple dozen of the things and some I cut back all the way to the ground, and some I cut back to about 2 feet, and it seems, but this is just an impression and not a scientific observation, that the ones cut back to the ground grow fewer, longer, shoots with longer flowers, and the ones cut back to around 2 feet shoot out lots of branches with more, shorter flowers.

I don't cut back my smoke bush.