Garden Flower Gardens 12 Plants You Should Never Cut Back in Fall Help your garden thrive next year by being judicious with your pruning now. By Samantha Johnson Samantha Johnson Samantha Johnson writes about the happy things in life—pets, gardening, home, family, food, and farm life—and thinks Mondays are the most wonderful day of the week. She spends her spare time reading seed catalogs and taking photos of her napping Corgi. She has over 20 years of gardening experience and is the author of nearly two dozen books. Editorial Guidelines Published on September 23, 2024 Close Photo: Catherine McQueen / Getty Images Fall may feel like an obvious time to do some serious trimming and pruning of your landscaping and gardens. As the weather tiptoes towards winter, you may have the urge to cut back plants so everything looks tidy in the spring. But wait! While trimming away old growth and pulling down spent foliage is just fine for some plants after summer, it isn’t such a good plan for others. Below, our experts weigh in on which plants you shouldn’t cut back in the autumn. Christine Froehlich, horticulturist and owner of Gardening With What You Have, where she offers landscape design services to home gardeners Laura Irish-Hanson, extension horticulture educator at the University of Minnesota Extension Lorraine Ballato, a garden and hydrangea expert and author of Success With Hydrangeas: A Gardener's Guide 12 Plants Experts Say You Should Always Prune in Autumn 01 of 12 Roses Getty Images Some members of the Rosa family are still blooming nicely in the fall, adding a nice splash of color with the rest of your late-season blooms. Should you trim them back as the temperatures drop? No, not at all—you need to leave them alone to set them up nicely for winter, says horticulturist Christine Froehlich. "Depending on the harshness of winter, roses can experience a lot of dieback," she says. "Pruning them in the fall opens their tissues and exposes them further." She recommends waiting until spring, then pruning after temperatures rise above freezing. 02 of 12 Azaleas Catherine McQueen / Getty Images As you prepare your garden for fall, you’ll want to research which of your plants prepare their future buds in the autumn. This Rhododendron family member is one of them. "Azaleas and other broadleaf evergreens should not be cut back in fall," says Froehlich, noting that if you cut back azaleas in the fall, you will prune off next year's buds. "Pruning promotes new growth as well, and in fall, it will not have time to harden off, so you risk foliage burn when cold weather sets in," she says. 03 of 12 Sunflowers Vladimir Zlotnik / GETTY IMAGES Even though Helianthus annuus makes the most of its days in the sun, it quickly wilts when the frosts set in. Your initial thought might be to cut them back at this point, but why not wait? Winter songbirds (like chickadees) absolutely love harvesting sunflower seeds, and in addition to feeding your neighborhood flocks, the faded stalks can give your landscape a touch of visual interest in the winter. 04 of 12 Red Hot Pokers Kerrick / GETTY IMAGES Gardeners in southern climates might try growing the brilliant and eye-catching Kniphofia: red hot poker flowers. If these beautiful blooms grace your garden, plan on waiting until spring to cut back the stalks and faded foliage. The idea is to help the crown of the plant stay protected from cold temperatures, as the plant isn’t very hardy. 8 Fall Garden Tasks You Should Never Skip, According to Experts 05 of 12 Lilacs Johner Images / GETTY IMAGES It’s easy to love Syringa vulgaris with its sweet spring fragrance and beautiful blooms. The flowering stage lasts only a few short weeks, but the shrub remains attractive throughout the rest of the growing season. But lilacs grow quickly and have a way of spreading fast, ultimately blocking views and windows. Fall might seem like a fine time to cut back overgrown lilacs, but if you do so, you’ll actually cut away next year’s already-set flowers. If you do decide to cut back lilacs in the fall, be aware that you won’t get blossoms for one year. To preserve buds, opt to trim back unwieldy branches just after the spring flower show is over—the plants will have time to reset during the summer growing season. 06 of 12 Oak Trees Getty Images You should also hold off on pruning your oak trees (Quercus) during the autumn months. "[At this time of year] we want to make sure no pruning is happening on oaks because of oak wilt (Bretziella fagacearum)," says extension horticulture educator Laura Irish-Hanson. She suggests marking dead limbs, so you know which need to be strategically pruned later on when the oaks are dormant in late winter. 07 of 12 Rhododendrons undefined undefined / GETTY IMAGES As with its cousin azalea, rhododendron should not be pruned in fall. "Rhododendrons, beloved spring-flowering shrubs, form their flower buds for the next year after they finish flowering in spring," says Irish-Hanson. "This means if you prune in summer, fall, or winter, you will remove the flower buds for the following spring." She notes that if rhododendron pruning is required throughout the year because of storm damage or similar issues, you can go ahead and prune those damaged stems in fall. "Typically, pruning is done just after the rhododendrons finish blooming in spring before the next year's flowering buds have formed." 08 of 12 Caryopteris imageBROKER/Jürgen & Christine Sohns / Getty Images A stunning flowering shrub with delicate blossoms, Caryopteris can develop thicker, somewhat woody stems as it matures—so you’ll want to be careful not to overdo the pruning in the fall. "Woody shrubs are best left until spring unless they need rejuvenating," says Froehlich. "By fall, flower buds are set—so if you prune, you won’t have flowers." She adds that butterfly bushes and Caryopteris are particularly susceptible to winter dieback, so she recommends waiting to prune them until spring. 09 of 12 Oak Leaf Hydrangeas You really have to do your research with hydrangeas because different varieties require pruning at different times. "Oak leaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia) flower on old wood, that is, growth they put on in the prior year," says hydrangea expert Lorraine Ballato. "If you garden in the Northern Hemisphere, those buds have already been formed. Late season/fall pruning will result in fewer or no flowers in 2025." 10 of 12 Russian Sage loflo69 / GETTY IMAGES Salvia yangii can benefit from the insulating protection its old growth offers its crown over the winter. "I don’t cut back Russian sage," says Froehlich. "Again, too much risk of dieback and damage to future flowers." (Russian sage was formerly classified as Perovskia atriplicifolia.) 11 of 12 Peonies Jasenka Arbanas / Getty Images Paeonia can be cut back very late in the fall, once freezing temps have set in, and all growth is stopped. If you cut back too early in the fall, you might deny the peonies some energy from light harvesting. Be careful; too much trimming down by the ground level can do more harm than good. 12 of 12 Coneflowers photo by Bill Koplitz / Getty Images There’s nothing especially wrong with trimming back your spent Echinacea purpurea plants in the fall, but you can always leave them—as well as many other perennials—for nature to enjoy. "I hardly cut back any perennials," says Froehlich. "I leave the seed heads and stalks for birds and insects." Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit