About a month before your projected frost hits, the first thing you might do is bring inside any tropical plants or delicate perennials you want to over-winter. If planted in your landscape, be sure to check for any bugs or insect infestations so you can treat them while they are still outdoors. Once you are certain they are clear of any bugs or disease, dig them up and repot them. Be sure to keep them separate from any other plants for a few weeks just to be sure they do not contaminate other houseplants. For perennials, keep the potted plants in a cool area that gets plenty of sunlight. Only give them a small amount of water throughout the winter to keep them dormant.
Remove Annuals from Your Landscape Beds
While some Supertunias and other annuals may last through your first frost, it is best to remove them just before your frost hits. Be sure to compost any healthy plants and dispose of any diseased plants so the disease does not spread back to your garden the following year.
Cut Some Perennials Back
Once your perennials have gone dormant, you can clean their leaves and foliage out of your garden beds, and even cut back some select varieties altogether. We recommend cutting down perennials like hostas, lavender, yarrow, and salvia.
Do not cut back or trim in the fall:
Any evergreen or semi-evergreens like dianthus, heuchera, heucherella, phlox, bugleweed, or red hot poker.
Any perennials with woody stems like hibiscus (Rose of Sharon), Russian sage, or butterfly bush.
Any perennials that have winter interest like baptisia, coneflowers, ornamental grasses, sedum, allium, and hellebores.
If you are unsure what to do with any specific plant we offer, you can look on their product page on our site for care instructions. This will tell you whether to cut this plant back and when to do so.
Protect Newly Planted or Delicate Perennials and Shrubs
Once you have established new perennials and shrubs into your yard, you can protect them by adding mulch around the base of these plants to insulate their young roots during the winter. The purpose of mulch is to keep the ground frozen with consistent and even soil temperatures during both periodic warm spells, and abnormally chilly weather conditions. This protects the plants from a harsh winter and waking up too early from dormancy due to the inconsistent thawing and freezing of the surface of the ground. If this happens, they could begin to grow, only to be hit by cold temperatures later, causing severe damage to the plant.
Do you have some last minute garden advise you would like to share. Submit it to info@magnificentgarden.org.
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