What Plants to Cut Back In the Fall

Part of being a good homeowner is taking care of your lawn and garden. When winter weather starts to creep into your home, it’s important to prepare your garden for the colder temperatures to come. After all, prepping your garden for the cold winter months will ensure a healthier nursery in the spring. This is because this pruning will keep your garden tidy and stop

That being said, it’s essential that you know which plants to cut back and which plants to leave alone. Even though 22% of gardeners do so because it’s fun, there’s still a lot of tender love and care that needs to go into your flower greenhouse. Pruning is a gardener’s bread and butter, especially if you’re taking care of shrubs and trees. Your vegetables and annuals, however, will need to be moved inside if they hope to survive the cold.

Here are some of the most common landscape plants in your flower greenhouse and garden that you should plan on pruning this year.

Showy foliage-producing plants

There are some trees and shrubs that are grown for their foliage. These perennial trees and shrubs, like barberry and burning bushes, need to be pruned in early autumn. This will prepare your perennials for their long time dormant in the winter. Of course, you can also cut back these plants when they enter their dormant stage in the thick of winter. It’s important to avoid pruning them in late fall, however, since they need to harden new growth shoots before the cold weather arrives. Just be sure to clean your sheers to prevent diseases from passing from one plant to another.

Hostas

No plant nursery is complete without a bed of gorgeous hostas. These perennials do well in flower greenhouses and outdoor gardens alike. When autumn arrives, there’s no better time to cut them back. New shoots develop in spring, so you can trim these popular plants anytime from fall throughout early spring. If your garden is prone to slug problems though, cutting them back in the fall is ideal. This will prevent slugs from finding warmth and moisture in the soil beneath your hostas for the winter.

Keep in mind that excessively large hosta plants can always be divided into two plants when they become to difficult to take care of in your plant nursery.

Lilies

Lilies are among the most popular plants seen in a flower greenhouse. These perennial flowers ooze beautiful colors, an intoxicating smell, and an easy-to-care-for attitude, making them a crowd favorite.

While you don’t have to ‘prune’ your lilies, you should definitely cut them back each fall. This will prevent dead plant matter from attracting organisms that want to make their home in the nutrient-rich soil. As soon as the flower’s petals start to wilt, you can cut the entire flower off to the stem. Eventually, the stem will die naturally when the fall arrives because of the cold. Here, you can remove the stems and trim the foliage to ensure a healthier plant in the spring.

Contact Schwartz‘s Greenhouse today

Do you want more advice on perennial flowers? Look no further than Schwartz‘s Greenhouse. We have all the plants and advice you need to make your garden look great this fall. Contact us today for more information!