Why should you wait to cut back plants until spring? And how do you know which plants you should never prune in the fall? This article explains the main reasons to hold off on pruning, and 13 species you should never cut back in the autumn.
Some plants bloom on old wood, forming flower buds on wood that grew the past season. When you prune them, you chop off many of the coming flowers before they sprout. Patience is a virtue inside the garden, and it pays to leave these needy species alone until after they bloom in spring.
Other plants lack frost tolerance, which would help them resist hard freezes. Prune them, and you’ll open up wounds susceptible to cold damage.
Although we mainly cover shrubs and trees on this list, you should also avoid pruning perennials with seed heads during autumn. The seeds are a valuable food source for birds, squirrels, and small mammals. Leave species like purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, and blazing star alone until new growth appears in spring.
Fall works for pruning cold-hardy species, but it isn’t ideal for fruiting trees and shrubs. Wait until fruiting deciduous trees enter dormancy during winter to start pruning. If the plants still have leaves on their branches, it’s too early to make cuts—they’ll invite diseases, pests, and frost damage. Winter to early spring is ideal for roses, apples, plums, and similar species.
You may be wondering if you can prune evergreen trees in the fall. You’ll also want to wait until winter or early spring to prune these species, as they’re still hardening off to prepare for freezes. Evergreen plants are exceptionally cold hardy, but they need time to prepare natural antifreeze in their foliage.
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Hydrangea
You can safely prune new growth-blooming species in spring or winter to rejuvenate your shrubs.
Hydrangeas bloom bulging flower clusters on tall stems. Many species exist for the home gardener; some bloom on new growth, while others flower on old wood. You can safely prune new growth-blooming species in spring or winter to rejuvenate your shrubs.
The three main garden species to avoid pruning in fall are mophead, mountain, and oakleaf hydrangeas. Their scientific names are Hydrangea macrophylla, H. serrata, and H. quercifolia. These types start sprouting buds in the fall, and you’ll cut them off prematurely if you prune in autumn or winter.
Wait to prune the three hydrangea species until after they bloom in spring or summer. This gives the shrubs time to heal their wounds, grow new blooms, and prepare buds for the next season. Avoid chopping stems from late summer until spring, as this is when they’re most sensitive.
Mophead hydrangeas bounce back quickly after a cutting back. You can bring them down to ground level after they bloom for the first time, and they’ll sprout new stems and blooms by late summer.
Forsythia
If you prune them in the fall, you’ll chop off already-forming flowers.
Forsythia shrubs bloom during the frigid months of late winter and early spring. They produce yellow, fragrant flowers along their stems, erupting with color when most other plants are still dormant. Prune them in the fall and you’ll chop off already-forming flowers.
These shrubs are exceptionally cold hardy, surviving winters in USDA plant zones 5 through 8. Add mulch to their roots during fall instead of pruning to help bolster their cold resistance. An organic mulch like leaves, compost, or leaf mold works well.
The best time to prune forsythia shrubs is after they bloom and start producing leaves. Prune them to size, removing dead or diseased stems while you’re at it. Forsythia plants take to hard pruning well, sprouting new stems from their crown. Let them grow tall and create a living fence, or prune them small each year to make a low-growing hedge.
Star Jasmine
It is marginally cold hardy and will suffer damage after major cuts.
Star jasmine isn’t a true jasmine, but it sprouts incredibly fragrant white flowers similar to the species. They grow off long, sprawling, twining vines that creep into new areas as they spread. Pruning is often necessary to reduce their size, although it’s best to wait until spring for this task. Star jasmine is marginally cold hardy and will suffer from bloom and foliage damage after major cuts.
This is another plant to always avoid pruning in the fall. The semi-evergreen vine creates next year’s flowers on old vines. I accidentally pruned my star jasmine during winter, and the shrub barely bloomed the next season. You can prune this plant if it’s out of control in your landscape; just know you’ll have fewer flowers when it blooms.
Wait until after star jasmine erupts into bloom during spring or summer. Prune the vines immediately after flowering, and maintain them until the end of summer. As cold temperatures arrive, the green vines grow woody to prepare for winter. Avoid making more cuts until the weather warms.
Redbud
The entire tree turns purple-pink during cool weather!
Redbud trees are native to North America, and they’re superb winter-blooming species that brighten dreary gardens while not much else is flowering. Two main types grow throughout the continent: the Western and American redbuds. Grow western redbud from zones 6 through 9 in the West, and plant American redbud from zones 4 through 9 for eastern and central U.S. gardens.
Redbuds have their name because they flower bright purple-pink blooms all along their stems. The entire tree turns purple-pink during cool weather! The blossoms support bees and pollinators, while the seed pods feed hungry birds late during the growing season. If you love these flowers, never prune these trees in the fall.
Because redbuds bloom on old wood, you’ll want to leave them be during autumn. Chop them now and you’ll destroy most of the flowers before they open! You can safely remove dead or diseased wood during cool months, so long as you don’t cut into live wood. Prune these species for shaping shortly after they flower for best results.
Lilac
Lilacs bloom during cool seasons, and cutting them back during fall causes dieback and fewer flowers.
Lilacs are gorgeous deciduous shrubs that profusely bloom fragrant flowers in spring. They attract dozens of pollinators, and they’ll look stunning in your landscape. Many species exist, with small or large cultivars for any size garden. Look for dwarf specimens like ‘Miss Kim’ for small spaces, and try the giant tree lilac in gardens needing a tall shrub or medium tree to 30 feet tall.
Lilacs bloom during cool seasons, and cutting them back during fall causes dieback and fewer flowers. Let lilacs grow rangy and wild, and they’ll produce tons of flower clusters at the end of their stems. The exception is dead or diseased wood—you can cut it off at any time of year.
Prune lilacs shortly after they flower in spring. Avoid waiting until summer or fall, as they’ll be sprouting next year’s buds and blooms. You may hard prune lilacs during autumn to encourage a healthier shrub next year, but it will lack flowers. Pruning for size may be worth the tradeoff of no blooms for a year if your lilac has long stems that could break over the winter.
Rhododendron and Azalea
All species form buds in summer and fall, so avoid pruning them unless they have diseased or dead branches.
Rhododendrons and azaleas are both in the Rhododendron genus, and they behave similarly. They’re evergreen or deciduous, forming buds at the end of summer. If you prune their branches in autumn, you’ll lop off precious flowers and leaves that open next year.
Both rhododendrons and azaleas have hundreds of cultivars, with flowers ranging from purple, yellow, pink, white, and red. Some have orange flowers, like deciduous azaleas in the ‘Exbury’ series. All species form buds in summer and fall, so avoid pruning them unless they have diseased or dead branches.
Make selective cuts on unruly stems in late spring or early summer. Rhodies and azaleas finish flowering and grow foliage, and you can cut any branch you’d like. For tall tree-like rhodies, prune sprouts off their lower trunks to create an open canopy. Cut off stems where they connect to another stem since these species tend to sprout at branch junctions.
Mock Orange
Don’t prune them in the fall so you can enjoy their gorgeous, fragrant blossoms.
Mock orange produces white blossoms that smell like those on orange trees. It’s a beautiful shrub that attracts pollinators, birds, and small creatures looking for hiding places. A few species are native to North America and thrive in our U.S. gardens.
Try Philadelphus lewisii on the West Coast and P. inodorus throughout eastern and central states. Mock orange shrubs bloom on last year’s wood, meaning they’ll have flowering buds from fall through winter. Never prune these shrubby plants in the fall, or you may miss out on their gorgeous, fragrant blossoms.
Prune mock orange species and their cultivars shortly after they flower. Remove any crisscrossing branches, and take out dead or diseased wood. Mock orange takes to pruning well, and you can remove up to 25% of the shrub in a single pruning.
Mountain Laurel
Keep those pruners away from these shrubs until the weather warms.
Mountain laurels are close relatives of blueberries, heaths, and heathers. They bloom unique flowers in clusters in shades of purple, pink, and white with red markings. These shrubs or small trees are extremely sensitive to transplanting and difficult to grow in pots, so handle their roots carefully.
Mountain laurels, like rhodies and azaleas, bloom in late winter or early spring. There are a few species native to North America, like Kalmia latifolia and K. angustifolia. They form buds in early autumn, while most other plants are quieting down for the year. Keep those pruners away from these shrubs until the weather warms, and they’ll reward you with flowers on every branch tip.
Prune mountain laurels after they’re done blooming, and cut branches back to where they meet other stems. These plants are evergreen in their native range and rebound from cuts quickly with fresh growth. K. latifolia sometimes reaches up to 32’ tall in the Appalachian Mountains. These tall specimens shouldn’t need pruning once they reach that high.
Camellia
Flowers come in all sorts of colors, like pink, yellow, red, white, and variations of the four.
Camellias decorate ornamental gardens with rose-like blossoms before most roses have buds or leaves. They appreciate cold but mild winters, and most are native to regions of Asia. They’re shrubs or small trees that grow underneath forest canopies or hillsides. Flowers come in all sorts of colors, like pink, yellow, red, white, and variations of the four.
Some species are more cold-hardy than others. Use Camellia oleifera varieties in cold regions from zones 6 through 9. Warm climate gardeners from zones 8 through 10 can try Camellia reticulata. It typically reaches 12 feet tall in cultivation but can grow up to 50 feet tall in its native range!
Avoid harming tender buds by pruning camellia after they flower. You can cut their branches or leaves after flowering until late summer when the shrubs start preparing for winter. They’ll form frost-proof buds that open up when the days start lengthening and warming your region.
Spirea
Most are preparing for the oncoming year by creating new buds for next year.
Spirea shrubs grow throughout the world, with some native to North America and others from Asia and Europe. All cultivars are early spring or fall bloomers with unique flowers. They attract wildlife like insect pollinators, birds, and small mammals.
Douglas spirea is an awesome species for the Pacific Northwest, with bright pink flower clusters. Many other types exist, like ‘Snowmound.’ It only reaches about five feet tall but grows white flower bunches all along its stems.
No matter what spirea plant species you have, never prune them in the fall. Most are preparing for the oncoming year by growing frost-hardy or by creating new buds for next year.
Prune spireas right after they finish flowering. For spring blooming cultivars this will be in late spring, and for summer bloomers this is in late summer. Some species may bloom intermittently in autumn if you have an especially warm season. Still, wait to prune until late spring and you’ll avoid creating frost tender wounds on your shrub.
Viburnum
Avoid fall pruning to keep those buds safe and secure.
Viburnums, like spireas, range from all over the world. Some are native to the U.S., while others originate from Europe, China, or Japan. Tree-like species work well in specimen plantings; try blackhaw if you live in the eastern U.S. Rusty blackhaw is another native species that performs well as a single-stem tree or as a multi-stem shrub.
West Coast gardeners can plant the iconic David viburnum. It’s a low-growing shrub that spreads wider each spring and summer. Central U.S. gardeners should try maple-leaf viburnum, a low-growing suckering shrub.
Non-native viburnums also perform well in the landscape, like Korean spice viburnum, Chinese or Japanese snowball, and sweet viburnum. All viburnums, like spireas, prepare for winter by going dormant and creating buds for next year’s growing season. In order to keep those buds safe and secure, never prune these plants in the fall.
Prune viburnums after they flower, either in late spring or summer. Prune your shrubs to maintain an open, airy interior. If you have a suckering viburnum, you can prune entire stems down to their base. Tree viburnums are a bit more complicated—remove crisscrossing branches, and pluck suckers or low-growing sprouts as they occur.
Fothergilla
They sprout delicate white flowers with spidery blossoms rich in nectar and pollen.
Fothergilla shrubs are airy specimens native to the southeastern U.S. in wet, moist, or semi-dry soils. They sprout delicate white flowers with spidery blossoms rich in nectar and pollen. They attract local wildlife that rely on these shrubs for seeds, flowers, or habitat space.
If you lack the space for a full-size fothergilla like a witch-alder or large witch-alder, try ‘Mount Airy.’ It’s a hybrid cultivar that grows to six feet tall. It spreads through suckers, forming a mat of stems with white, fragrant blossoms. Opt for dwarf fothergilla if you prefer a shrub below three feet tall.
Fothergilla species bloom during cold weather in winter or spring, and they start preparing their blossoms during autumn. Avoid cutting into their stems until after they flower. You can prune them continuously through the year until late summer when they start losing their leaves and forming buds.
Witch Hazel
These shrubs create buds that erupt in late winter as days lengthen.
Witch hazel shrubs are the source of witch hazel toner and similar beauty products. They smell similar to the fragrant, spidery blossoms these plants produce on their stems. They range in yellows, oranges, reds, and purples, and they are an excellent pollen and nectar source when other plants are dormant.
Some types, like common and Ozark witch hazels, are native plants of North America. Others, like the non-native Chinese and Japanese witch hazels, thrive in temperate climates outside their native range. No matter what species you tend, you’ll want to avoid pruning them in the fall. These shrubs create buds that erupt in late winter as days lengthen. Never prune these plants in fall, or you’ll lop off these precious blooms.
Prune witch hazels after they leaf out in spring. They recover from cuts quickly in warm seasons, healing their wounds and sprouting new growth. Some species grow tall and rangy with time—hard prune them to a third of their height to spur new growth lower on their base.
