Step away from the pruners. Now. I mean it. This is NOT the time to trim shrubs in the garden. Aside from removing dead or damaged branches, which should be done as soon as they become apparent, leave the cutbacks and neatening until deep winter. For most of us, that means January or February.
Why this moratorium on pruning? Despite the fact that the southeast is in the midst of a period of cool weather, we will likely experience another warm up before real cold arrives. Southeast gardeners joke about this initial cool period being “false fall.” Shrubs that are pruned now will respond with a new flush of growth. This tender new growth is prone to damage when freezing temperatures begin to occur nightly. In some cases, plants wear unsightly shriveled or blackened leaves through winter and into the following spring. In other cases, specifically older cultivars of hydrangeas and azaleas, a fall pruning will result in the absence of spring flowers. Even hydrangeas that are rebloomers (“remontant”) will benefit from pruning restraint until spring arrives. At that time, dead stems are detectable and can be removed without impacting future flowers.
When it comes to fall garden cleanup, people fall into two camps. One group prefers to remove dead annuals, prune back perennials, and add mulch to act as a blanket against temperature extremes and wind erosion. The other group delays cleanup until late winter or early spring, allowing stems to harbor overwintering good insects, provide food and cover for birds, and protect against cold damage. I play both angles. I remove annuals and dead peony foliage, and cut some perennials (rudbeckia, shasta daisy) down to their basal foliage. I leave Lantana and Artemisia alone, waiting for new spring growth to commence before trimming.
Leaves are another controversy. In many subdivisions, I see numerous leaf-filled plastic bags awaiting roadside pickup. I use an opposite approach. I use a leaf-blower to blow leaves out of my flower beds and shrubs onto the grass. Then I cut over the turf with a bagging mower. I empty those leaves, now cut into fine pieces, back into the beds where they fell. They serve as a free insulation blanket to protect plants. The reduced size means they break down quickly instead of sticking together in an impermeable slime layer. Removing leaves from the lawn gives a neat appearance for warm season grasses like Zoysia or Bermuda (dormant in winter) and prevents dead spots in cool season lawns (Fescue) where sun and rain could not percolate down. Rather than adding an excessive layer of chopped leaves to beds and borders, I add any extras to a compost pile where they develop into the precious soil amendment known as “leaf mold” for distribution in the spring.
While cold weather and short days reduce our hours in the garden, it provides time to sharpen shears and hand pruners, and perform maintenance on lawncare machines. Even gutters with leaf guards can have leaves build up along roof valleys. Drain water hoses, add protective insulated boxes over outdoor water spigots, and take expensive watering wands indoors for the length of cold weather. These can freeze and break if they hold water in their sprinkler heads. Empty garden fountains and store delicate containers in a freeze-proof area. Indoors, replace furnace filters and the batteries in smoke detectors. Most important, schedule time to relax in front of your fireplace with seed catalogs and a sketch pad, planning for next year.
An image of my driveway from last year. Thanks to the numerous trees brought down by Hurricane Helene, this year’s appearance will be markedly different.