9 PERENNIALS You MUST CUT to The Ground Before October 1st( Do This Now or You'll REGRET It Forever), by YB Gardening on YouTube. 14 min 6 s.
- Video length
- 14 min 6 s
- Time to do it
- 1 to 2 hours
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 10
What you need
Steps
Wait until the foliage has died back or been hit by frost, then work through the border plant by plant. Clean your blades with rubbing alcohol before you start and between plants.
For bearded iris, cut the flowered stems and old foliage down to about 15 cm above the rhizome. Do not bury or cover the rhizome, since it needs air and sun.
Cut catmint back hard to around 10 cm above soil level once flowering has finished. This tidy shape encourages fresh growth in spring.
Cut peonies to the ground, leaving about 5 cm of stem. Clear every fallen leaf, because old peony foliage can carry disease over winter.
Trim daylilies down to about 5 to 10 cm above the crown after the leaves yellow. Pull away any dead leaves sitting on the soil.
Cut hosta leaves to the ground once they have collapsed and turned yellow. Clear the debris so slugs and snails have nowhere to shelter.
Leave Russian sage stems standing through winter for structure and frost interest. Cut it back in early spring instead of autumn.
Cut garden phlox to the ground, around 5 cm, and bin the stems rather than composting them if you saw mildew. This helps break the disease cycle.
Trim lavender lightly, taking off the flower stems and a little soft growth. Never cut into the old woody base, as it rarely regrows.
Cut false indigo down to about 10 cm above the ground once it has died back. Leave the seed heads if you want winter interest or self-seeding.
Tips and common mistakes
Cut into the soft green growth on lavender, not the brown woody stems, or the plant may not recover.
Bin diseased leaves from peonies and phlox instead of adding them to compost.
Do not cut Russian sage in autumn, since the old stems protect the crown through frost.
Sharpen and clean your secateurs first so cuts are clean and disease does not spread.
Questions
Do I have to cut everything back before October 1st?
No. The date is a rough guide for when growth starts to die back. Cut each plant when its foliage has yellowed or been frosted, and leave tender or structural plants until spring.
Can I compost the cuttings?
Healthy green cuttings can go in the compost. Bin any stems or leaves with mildew, spots or other signs of disease so it does not spread back into the border.
What if my lavender is already woody?
Only trim the soft growth and flower stems. Cutting into old brown wood usually kills that branch, so replace very woody plants instead of hard pruning them.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
