Should most perennials be pruned to ground level
after a hard frost or is it best to wait until early
spring?

Or is there no hard and fast rule and depends on the plant?

Thanks
PWP
Zone 4

Should most perennials be pruned to ground level after a hard frost
or is it best to wait until early spring?

If by "perennial" you mean a plant which is going to die back to
ground level anyway, it doesn't much matter. It might not die right
at the hard frost (it might be sooner or later, depending on the
plant). But once it does, you can leave around the seed pods for
birds or if you like the look, or prune it. Either way is fine. This
is assuming the plant will be coming back from new shoots anyway.

Evergreens or woody shrubs/vines are a different matter. That one
depends on the plant a bit more, but many of them would not take well
to being pruned so drastically.

Then there are plants, like black eyed susan or evening primrose,
where the old flower stalk dies, but they have small green leaves all
winter. In those cases you can prune the flower stalk whenever it
dies but you leave the leaves.

I guess I keep thinking of special cases so I guess it kind of is "it
depends on the plant".

On Wed, 5 Sep 2007 21:01:56 -0500, Paul Paulsen wrote:

Should most perennials be pruned to ground level=20
after a hard frost or is it best to wait until early=20
spring?

The standard rule is "clean up ASAP". When research has been done, it's
been found to be beneficial to leave the old leaves and stems as long as
possible.

Kay

"Paul Paulsen" wrote in message news:

Should most perennials be pruned to ground level
after a hard frost or is it best to wait until early
spring?

Or is there no hard and fast rule and depends on the plant?

Wait until spring. The dead stuff protects the plant.

On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 21:47:45 +1000, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given
wrote:

Wait until spring. The dead stuff protects the plant.

But it also hosts mold and rodents, so if you find you have a problem
after one year, clean up that area the next year.