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Fall Garden Tips

Perennials All perennial flowers should be cut to the ground once a year. We cut every perennial to the ground in either fall or spring.  We cut most of our plants down in fall when they appear unattractive.  If it is ugly - cut it down!  Many perennials are evergreen or semi-evergreen.  They should not be cut in fall.  In addition some plants appear attractive at the end of the season even though their active growth is over.  These we wait to cut in spring.  An example would be Sedum 'Autumn Fire' which still has an attractive shape in the garden.  If you do not cut it in the fall, you may do so in the spring.  It does not affect the plant adversely to wait until spring.  We cut in the fall as we have more time then.  Many people wait until spring as they like to provide food and shelter for wildlife.  Even though a plant is an evergreen perennial, many benefit from being cut down to the ground in early spring.  This removes old, tired foliage which is soon replaced with fresh, attractive leaves.  Examples of this would be Hellebores (Lenten Rose type) and some evergreen Euphirbias. 
Flowering Shrubs

We do absolutely no pruning in the fall.  Flowering shrubs that bloom in the spring should be pruned immediately after floweriing.  Those that bloom in summer or fall should be pruned in late winter or early spring.  Pruning is determined by whether a plant blooms on old or new wood.  Since there are exceptions it is best to look up the plant in our catalog where the care is given on each individual page.

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