To Cut Back or Not to Cut Back . . .

. . . that is the question. For me, anyway. I always feel like as long as leaves are green, the plant is photosynthesizing and, in doing so, storing food for itself. The tidy-toes person in me, though, wants to cut some of my perennials back at this time of year! So, what do you do? Is it OK to cut back? Or do we somehow deplete the plants store of food for dormancy and regrowth in spring? That hunch about "photosynthesizing and storing food so let it be" is just that - a hunch. But, is it correct? Don't like to leave an "empty" post, so here's a pic of some daylillies from about 3 weeks ago. : )

Well....

Theoretically you should leave the leaves on as long as they are green. Nice theory.

I'm a tidy-toes too, and I find that if a plant is fairly mature (as in not planted this spring or last fall) that it seems to be OK to hack away.

Donna

This message was edited Sep 3, 2011 3:26 PM

Thanks, Donna - maybe I will hack. A bit.

Sherri

I've always felt that it kind of depends on the plant. I experiment sometimes. Certain things don't seem to mind being cut back in the fall if they look particularly scraggly, but mostly I leave them alone as long as they have green leaves for exactly the reason you stated, sherri--I figure they're still storing energy.

I don't think there's any particular rule about tidying up in late summer, though. I go through and deadhead/ deadleaf some of my plants if they're looking sad. I leave some seed heads on things like echinaceas and rudbeckias because the birds like to feed on them over the winter. There are also some seed heads that are pretty over the winter with frost and snow on them, like the bigger sedums (such as 'Autumn Joy').

For me, I tend to leave most things the way nature intended unless something's particularly unsightly. (And right now my whole yard's unsightly, so it's kind of a moot point. lol)

Kayly, I leave my sedums up, too. They were amazing under our 22" snowfall in February - they're about 30" tall and were buried by drift. Come the thaw - standing proud and tall. I could not believe it!

I am more like to cut down plants that turn into mush during the winter. It makes spring cleanup gross. On the other hand, I have about 60 ornamental grasses, and I wouldn't dream of cutting them back. In the winter, covered with a light snow, they are wonderful. And birds like to feast on the seeds.

I tend to leave things alone, at least until after a killing frost. Even then, it might be a light trim. Except Tall Bearded Iris, those are generally trimmed by now. Even though it's been dry this summer, most years I do so to help keep them from rotting, and to 'see' how things are doing. This year I have just finished transplanting all of my iris into one bed, so everything is hacked and chopped away anyhow ~Jan

I cut back my foxgloves and they are getting a nice crown of new leaves. The milkweed got cut back because I didn't want it to seed all over the place. Pretty much everything else is still standing, although I will probably cut back the agastache Blue Fortune to attempt to keep it from seeding everywhere.

Jan, do you cut back the foliage on your iris? The leaves on mine get so big and tall that I'd like to chop them in half, if that won't hurt the plants.

I have left all my plants till early spring to cut back. There is truth in leaving them as long as they are still green, storing up food for spring growth. Leaving them standing through winter, enables to snow to be caught and giving the plants a nice winter blanket to keep the roots from freezing, so it also ensures a hardy plant come spring.

That being said (lol) I am seriously thinking about cutting some of my stuff back because I am just sick of looking at it. But I know, when it comes right down to it, I won't. I will leave them like any other year and then in March when I am so antsy its pitiful I will go out on nice days (if there is any and no snow on the ground) and cut them back,

Dead or diseased stems, leaves and should can and should be cleaned away to keep from harboring the disease or nasty pest eggs to winter over in but the majority of mine I guess in all honesty will stay just the way they are for the time being. At least until March.

Realize that up until the last few weeks, my iris have been in mixed beds. (Also realize I have only owned iris for a couple of years now!) My TB's get very tall, and the outer leaves lay down by this time in summer. Previously, I have chopped off some of the longer leaves (about halfway) so I could see my other flowers and the ones that lay along the ground. I also have done it to open up some air flow if there is a lot of rain to try to prevent rot and fungus and stuff. Apparently it is OK to chop an iris down - at least that is what I have been told. I have friends that do it almost as soon as bloom season is over. I don't do it that soon, if I do so, it's August or so. I angle them down from the middle when I do, but leave 8-18 inches or so. It is not something I do routinely, just as necessary, or if I feel like it. (based on 2 years!)

Since every single one of my TB's has been transplanted over the past month, they are all about 6 inches or so now. I have given them a bit of fertilizer and a tad bit of water to encourage root growth, and hope they get established well before killing frosts. Also, this is how one receives iris such as from a society sale

I had amazing blooms this past spring, doubt very much I will have more than a couple bloom next year - I have thinned out my big clumps, and passed all but a rhizome or two of my iris to my friends and family. Hadn't intended on doing this so severely, but figured I might as well, since it is a brand new bed. This way they can "grow up" together.

My daylilies I won't chop, but I have cleaned up some of the dead leaves and dried scapes. I have some bee pods I hope to harvest. But I have never chopped them. Ditto with my bee balm and my single coneflower- the birds like the seeds.

I have been also moving my daylilies around quite a bit this summer as I have enlarged & built new beds.

I will mulch everything with dead leaves in late October, early November. AND making sure my dayliles have fencing around them for the winter (darn bunnies....)

Ah, the darned bunnies. I learned to love hardware cloth!

I have fell in love with rabbit scram....... I sprinkle it around all my lilies and such before a snow fall. They sometimes again in mid winter if the snow is hard and crusty. Then again when I clean out the beds in spring.

From 2005 (tullps planted in fall of 2004) till about the spring of 2008 I never had one tulip bloom.. NOT one!!!!!! I would get buds and get all excited for the to open and it would seem over night the blasted rabbits would eat every single one. The first Year I put in my Orienpets (planted fall of 2009) I planted 8 bulbs and only 5 got big enough to have actual blooms. Rabbits got that also. In fall of 2010 I found rabbit scram. I get tulips beautiful tulips and all 8 of the lilies have come up nary a one eaten by rabbits........... Plant my bulbs with cayenne pepper sprinkled in before I cover then over. Moes and voles don't seem to like cayenne pepper. Chippies either. So unless the rabbits get used to the taste and the smell I am good to go with my rabbit free areas........................

Haven't heard of Rabbit Scram- is it OK for pets? And where do you buy it? ~Jan

It doesn't hurt the animals at all. I guess they just don't like the smell or the taste. I buy it at Steins Garden Centers. It's a tad expensive but it sure does the trick. I wouldn't be with out it. In fact I have two unopened canisters in the garage. When it is on sale it isn't so bad price wise. If you have a rabbit problem I would recommend it to any one.

cece, I tried Rabbit Scram on your recommendation--yep, it does work! I've had plenty of bunnies in my front yard but none of them have touched the hostas in the bed I sprinkled it on. (Now if I could only say the same thing for hail, which decimated the hostas in the spring. They never really did bounce back this year.)

Yeppers, it does work, Karen glad it worked for you.

I am going to definitely cut back this fall. I have to, to get to all the weeds that have gotten so out of hand. I swear, next year I will get back into the groove of things. I was that Nashville trip that through me all out of whack. Nothing has been the same way around here since. The heat and the humidity got to me big time this year.

Now its back..... 81º at 4:30 in the blasted a.m. is not my idea of cooling off at night, Course next week the highs are being predicted to 60's and 70's and the night time temps in the 50's and MAYBE upper 40's. Just wish Mother Nature would make up her mind.

Oh yes, 84 at 6:00 a.m. Gross. The weeds have been terrible. Turn your back for a week and you can pull them out by the handfull. And it's easy to turn your back when it's in the 90's day after day. I've never seen those little clovers with the yellow flowers so tall. About 8 inches. They LOVE these conditions. I filled an entire leaf bag with weeds in less than five minutes. I pulled my hardy geraniums out of the garden and put them in pots to spare them. They were a gift from a beloved DGer, and had been in the ground flourishing for three years but they were burning. I put a lot of lilies in pots for the same reason, and put them on the patio. They couldn't handle blast the west side of my house.

Yeah, what ARE those little clover type things? Some sort of Oxalis? There are so MANY this year!!! They're actually very pretty, but my God, I won't even let one get its way or it'll be all over.

I have enough of them. Raining and thundering and lightening to beat the band here. With rain all day and cooler temperatures all next week. Maybe I can get out and get some of those weeds taken care of. I have Quaking Aspen trees popping up all over especially in the one garden Some of those suckers are almost 5 ft tall. Need to get them lopped of NOW.

Yes, I think they are form of oxalis. But they are normally very short - perhaps a couple of inches. The only good think about their ridiculous size. And I have a second kind with brownish leaves - at least it's less rampant.Then, my favorite, stinging nettle, is having a great year. The only good thing is that I have inadvertently come into contact with so many that my reaction to their sting is less. And those blasted white mulberries! Sometimes by the time you notice them they are one inch thick and poke out of a nine foot shrub. By that point you can cut them down but unless you are willing to wade into the shrub and paint them repeatedly with Roundup, they are here to stay. Since japanese beetles love them I sometimes spot them because their foliage is ragged.

And did I mention bindweed?

Nice!

.Round up THAT is what the Quaking Aspen suckers need after cutting them down Roundup. And I have lots. I am so skittish about using it that I buy it with good intentions then don't use it......... I WILL on the tree seedlings.............

It's the darn honey locust seedlings that mess everything up. I removed another honey locust this summer, and even though the stump was drilled out, there are still roots in the ground - and they keep sending up shoots. They grow faster than my grass. If they get too big, they do a number on my mower blade. In a way, I have to admire a plant with that much survival instinct that it continues to send up seedlings for years and years after the parent plant has been removed, but geez! ~Jan

I'm with you on the honeylocust. I seem to have a number of them growing as well. Didn't noticed them till now when the Quaking Aspen seedlings are all cut down. Nope didn't do the Roundup ") Too much wind and I was afeered to. What can I say?

Good for you, Cece!! That fear is well-founded.

Yep, my most horrible weed is bindweed. Turn your back and it will choke everything in sight.

I have very little bindweed because I caught it early and go hunting for it in spring. I have a friend who is a more relaxed gardener and didn't notice it for years. Our annual project is ripping out lawn bags of it. That stuff is really rude.

If I must, I put Roundup in a bowl, put on disposable gloves and touch it to the plants. No spraying. If you get it wrong!!!!!

Re: cutting back. I have a question - after my daylilies bloom, I find that the strappy leaves keep on growing and eventually I start trimming them back some. This year, I have an increase in new leaves sprouting which started a couple of weeks ago. Can I remove the old leaves laying on the ground to keep it looking a little tidier?

Cindy, my rule of thumb is: if a leaf is more than 1/2 brown, I pull - they come right out usually. I think daylillies always throw up new leaves when you cut some.

Yeah, normally I pull off the brown ones to keep things looking tidy. And I trim off just enough of the green ones so that it'll stand up a little more. Seems like once they bloom (and most of mine only bloom once, due to the shade I guess), the plants start getting ratty. I pulled some out last year because they take up too much valuable space once they start laying down.