WINTER PREPARATION – Perennials

Winter interest is not only provided by evergreens. Many deciduous shrubs and perennials contribute with form, structure and foliage color.

PERENNIALS: TO CUT OR NOT TO CUT

REASONS FOR NOT CUTTING BACK PERENNIALS:

• attractive seed heads (Sedum, Rudbeckia)
• food for birds (and refuge)
• hold snow, insulating their roots
• grasses provide color and movement in the winter landscape

Some perennials should be left up to ensure over-wintering: marginally hardy plants such as Monch Aster, Mums, tender Ferns, benefit from leaving the old foliage on the plants to provide insulation for their crowns.

Mums that are not cut back in autumn re-sprout better than those cut back.

Some perennials emerge late in spring. If you leave stems, you will know that something is there at spring planting time, therefore avoiding planting over them.

REASONS TO CUT BACK SOME PERENNIALS

To avoid over-wintering diseases, such as powder mildew on Monarda and Phlox, botrytis on Peonies or insects, such as borers on bearded Iris.

Remove all leaves and fallen dead flower heads from these plants – do not compost. Many diseases survive in the compost pile.

Some perennials look unsightly in the winter garden, those whose stems blacken or become mushy; others that fall and lay on the ground.

Some grasses do not hold up to snow and ice and may flop before winter is over. When they do, simply cut them back to within a few inches. (something to do on nice winter days)

Cut back or dead-head any plant that will spread seed where you don’t want it.

When cutting back, leave a few inches of stem to trap leaves and snow

for insulation. Leave basal foliage.

Do not cut back too soon. Perennials need nutrients supplied from foliage before it dies; and if cut too early, they may sprout new growth that can freeze and damage plant.