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Pruning / cutting back

yorkiethorntonyorkiethornton Posts: 100
in Problem solving
Hi. I’ve several plants which to date I’ve left as grown last summer and would welcome some guidance on whether to cut back or not? These include verbena, salvia, candela and rudbeckia (which has retained its flowers). Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Posts

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I would leave all the top growth on, whether dead or not, as there is still a month or two of winter to go and the old stems and foliage will protect the crowns from storms, heavy frosts and snow.   Watch the weather and wait till March or even early April, depending on where you are, to cut back and allow light and air to the new growth.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • yorkshireroseyorkshirerose Posts: 574
    I agree. Mother Nature can spring some nasty surprises on us yet!
    A gardener's work is never at an end  - (John Evelyn 1620-1706)
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    I never cut back penstemons before April but everything else I cut back when it collapses and gets messy and untidy. Anything which is behaving is left until spring
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • yorkiethorntonyorkiethornton Posts: 100
    Obelixx said:
    I would leave all the top growth on, whether dead or not, as there is still a month or two of winter to go and the old stems and foliage will protect the crowns from storms, heavy frosts and snow.   Watch the weather and wait till March or even early April, depending on where you are, to cut back and allow light and air to the new growth.
    Thank you 😁
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited January 2020
    I wouldn’t cut salvias back until there’s strong new growth in the spring. Then cut back by two thirds. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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