General cutting back question

Hi everyone

As the subject matter says when do you all cut back your perrenial flowers that have finished flowering?
I used to do it more or less straight away but this year have left things like peonies.

Is there a right way or wrong way?

Stingo :confused:

 

I think that this is a matter of personal taste. With peonies once they start to turn yellow I tend to cut them down to the ground because it looks neater. With flowers it all depends whether you want the seed or not. At the moment I am dead heading the new perenials I have planted so that they put their energy into making leaves rather than seeds. If you want the seed then wait until they have ripened before cutting back. I don't know what everyone else does but I would be interested to find out.

 

I am rather lazy and usually leave all the flower heads on, I also quite like all the seed heads in winter time - and of course the birds like goldfinches love them. The only ones I bother cutting off are the ugly ones like lupins.

 

In this garden it takes from when they finish flowereing till spring to cut them all down, so we just tend to start at one end and keep going.

 

A lot is personal taste i.e. what the plant looks like. Some I leave unpruned all winter, some I leave til late autumn, some straight away - dependant entirely what it looks like. If pleasing to eye,its left.

 

Dead heading is one thing. But they do say that leaving the foliage on over winter gives some extra protection. RHS Harlow Carr is only 2 miles from me, with the same soil and climate. A new curator from the South planted a nice new bed with Verbena Bonariensis weaving through it. But in the spring I noticed that it had disappeared. On asking I was told that it was cut back in autumn and died over the winter. I did not cut back my own and all the Verbena survived the winter.

Having said that, the Verbena at Harlow Carr self seeded and has come back again from new seedlings. But it has illustrated a point to me.

 

I usually stop dead-heading in August or Sept. so any seeds can set that are inclined to- and I leave dead foliage on things like hostas in the fond belief that the dead growth will provide frost protection.
PeterS thanks for that info. about v. bonariensis, I will leave mine and see what happens- hope they will survive and/or self seed and save me the bother!

 

PeterS is right. I left my verbena uncut and they came through the winter unscathed and have made much stronger plants this year. They seeded as well.

 

Yes - I never cut back perennials in the autumn. I know it looks untidy, but leaving plants uncut means that the roots get some frost protection as well as providing a safe home for hibernating ladybirds and other creatures. I give everything a good trim in early March

 

I watched Gardener's World last week and was surprised at the advice given to cut back lavenders "hard" as I understood that this might kill the plants.
Does anybody have any experience of this?

 

Having had a small garden where space was at a premium I used to cut back my lavender quite hard when it outgrew it's patch. I think the secret is not to cut back into the old wood but to leave some leaf growth in the hopes that new growth will come from lower down. It does take a while to look its best again so I don't think I would be tempted to make it a yearly event.

 

I understand that you can cut lavender back quite hard, but not rosemary.

 

I have always understood not to cut into the old wood of a Lavender but mine got out of hand just with trimming, 4-5 feet across an getting straggly so I dug it up!

We'll find out about the Rosemary, Hornbeam, as mine will be cut back very hard this winter!

 

You'll be sorry LOL.

 

Perhaps, HB, but they get to five-foot squared in about two-three years here so no real worries! I'll keep you posted!

I have a "spare" on the lane-side part of our wall which is a year old and about a metre square so I could transplant!

PS I've seen several here that have been cut into topiary so there's been some hard cutting there.