When should you prune perennials?

Perennials Plants such as coneflower, ornamental sage, garden geranium, and chickweed, among others, are (herbaceous) plants that die back above ground in the winter and sprout anew in the spring.

In winter, often only bare brown stems or seed heads remain.

Pruning Perennials: Fall or Spring?

In the past, perennials were often cut back close to the ground in the fall. Although this is perfectly fine, it’s actually a shame, because many plants still have a beautiful shape (even if they’ve died back), or they still have seed heads, which birds will happily feed on. And some plants even continue to bloom until the first frost!

Even the remains of the (above-ground) dead plants can still look beautiful in the winter. Their various shapes certainly retain their ornamental value, for example, when covered with a beautiful white layer of frost in the morning.

We would therefore definitely recommend waiting until spring to prune perennials.

Prune perennials back in the spring, cutting them just above the ground

This can happen, for example, just before they start sprouting again, or when you see the first signs of life reappearing above ground.