21 Nov Fall Pruning and Cleanup- The Sun Valley Way
With the seasonal weather subtly changing over to winter temperatures, our crews have been busy preparing your landscape for the upcoming months ahead. This time of the year its essential to winterize your property to ensure the health of your plant life come spring. During our annual fall cleanups, our crews work to:
- Cleanup of leaves in beds and turf
- Remove any remaining weeds in beds
- Edges: rake around beds, tidy natural edges and borders of beds
- Fluff beds: turn over and rake mulch, tidy rock beds
- Remove hoses and drain out
- Fall pruning: properly prune shrubs and cut back select perennials (see below for end of the season recommendations)
- Trees: remove suckers and saplings
As our crews are working to prune and cut back plant materials, it’s important to keep in mind that not all plant materials are pruned. Below are industry best practices and guidelines our crews follow when caring for your landscape during the fall/winter months:
- Leave ornamental grasses up over the winter months as they add winter interest to the landscape and aid in the insulation of the plant
- Research has shown roses sustain less winter injury if they are pruned later in April. To prepare roses for winter, now is the time to clean up old leaves to reduce overwintering organisms by removing spent blooms
- Most spent perennials should be cut back to 3-4” above the ground. Plants such as Coralbells, Russian Sage, and Astilbe are not cold tolerant and should be pruned in the spring time. Do not prune fall blooming plants that are in bloom!
- Pruning Hydrangea is variety-dependent and commonly not done completed during a fall cleanup, unless otherwise requested. Removal of spent blooms and dead stems each year should be adequate for maintaining healthy Hydrangea bushes. When done correctly, this can be done in the spring