I've cut them back, except fot the penstemons but I think they could be dead anyway. I don't have grasses. My daffodils are coming into bud, one clump has flowers. I like to see them in a tidy border.
After cutting back, tidying up and pruning roses I added a thick mulch, compost and leaf mould.
In Norfolk, no frost forecast for the next 2 weeks. Not far from Bressingham Gardens which have all been cut back now.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
I don't have one big cutback, I do it a bit at a time. I've done the perennials that were looking untidy (collapsed/flopping over) and that I'm confident in the hardiness of. I want to be able to see the bulbs coming into flower in amongst them. I don't grow much in the way of grasses.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I’m waiting until the temps are consistently above 10 degrees, last year it was late March plus some I leave even longer and only remove when it’s interfering with new growth (literally or visually). My aim is to be wildlife friendly so nothing was cut back or tidied in the Autumn and insects may be hibernating/pupating in the hollow stems and amongst the debris and won’t emerge whilst temps are low.
Most of my grasses won’t have put on much if any new growth by then anyway so the delay doesn’t cause any issues. Plus some I’ve find I don’t need to do at all, Hakonechloa old leaves drop them selves quite quickly and are soon smothered and hidden by the new growth.
I do have itchy fingers to start earlier, more because I want some gardening to do when we get a lovely bright day. I have pruned and mulched all the roses and will cut away the old growth on some of my ferns this week as otherwise it will be hiding some Narcissus.
I do like the look of a very tidy border but love all the bird activity we now get in the borders. Goldfinches and Tits seem to eat the seeds if anything and everything and lots of rummaging blackbirds everywhere. I’ve also found that some plants which look dreadful when they first go over (Asters, Helianthus Lemon Queen), soon loose their sad droopy leaves so you are left with just the clean stems and seed heads). I just need to grit my teeth and resist the tidying urge for that short interim period.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
I've cut them back, except fot the penstemons but I think they could be dead anyway. I don't have grasses. My daffodils are coming into bud, one clump has flowers. I like to see them in a tidy border.
After cutting back, tidying up and pruning roses I added a thick mulch, compost and leaf mould.
In Norfolk, no frost forecast for the next 2 weeks. Not far from Bressingham Gardens which have all been cut back now.
I tend to keep an eye on Instagram for the big gardens and noticed a few already started. Might give it a few more weeks
Working as a gardener I often had to take a different approach. It wasn't always possible to do the same job in multiple gardens at the best time.
Late flowering clematis were often a problem it was a balancing act of making sure they were done not too soon but before they started to be come a tangle which can happen very quickly. Easy to just check in one garden not so easy when you work in different gardens on certain days.
Clients often want things doing when it is the wrong time of year which can be difficult too. I was asked to prune an Acer palmatum in summer, the client said it was a trip hazard. If I had planned ahead it would have been done earlier, I had missed it, so I keep notes of monthly jobs for each garden from then on which helped.
It made me realise that gardening involves continuous forward thinking. This spring I think there will be a need to consider just how many perennials to split, with another dry summer water could again become a problem in the South of the country.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
I cut most of my deciduous grasses and perennials down in early March. Any that got untidy earlier with dead stems blowing about everywhere have already been pruned!
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I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
After cutting back, tidying up and pruning roses I added a thick mulch, compost and leaf mould.
In Norfolk, no frost forecast for the next 2 weeks. Not far from Bressingham Gardens which have all been cut back now.
Most of my grasses won’t have put on much if any new growth by then anyway so the delay doesn’t cause any issues. Plus some I’ve find I don’t need to do at all, Hakonechloa old leaves drop them selves quite quickly and are soon smothered and hidden by the new growth.
I do have itchy fingers to start earlier, more because I want some gardening to do when we get a lovely bright day. I have pruned and mulched all the roses and will cut away the old growth on some of my ferns this week as otherwise it will be hiding some Narcissus.
I do like the look of a very tidy border but love all the bird activity we now get in the borders. Goldfinches and Tits seem to eat the seeds if anything and everything and lots of rummaging blackbirds everywhere. I’ve also found that some plants which look dreadful when they first go over (Asters, Helianthus Lemon Queen), soon loose their sad droopy leaves so you are left with just the clean stems and seed heads). I just need to grit my teeth and resist the tidying urge for that short interim period.
East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
Late flowering clematis were often a problem it was a balancing act of making sure they were done not too soon but before they started to be come a tangle which can happen very quickly. Easy to just check in one garden not so easy when you work in different gardens on certain days.
Clients often want things doing when it is the wrong time of year which can be difficult too. I was asked to prune an Acer palmatum in summer, the client said it was a trip hazard. If I had planned ahead it would have been done earlier, I had missed it, so I keep notes of monthly jobs for each garden from then on which helped.
It made me realise that gardening involves continuous forward thinking. This spring I think there will be a need to consider just how many perennials to split, with another dry summer water could again become a problem in the South of the country.