Upstate New York Gardeners Say A Brutal Last Winter Taught Them Some Favorite Plants Need Extra Help And Share Their Fall To Do List Before The Cold Hits

After a brutal winter, a pair of gardeners in upstate New York have a message for anyone who figures plants can look after themselves once the cold arrives: some of your favorites need an extra helping hand. The hosts of Grow For Me Gardening walked through their zone 6A garden and laid out the fall to-do list they plan to finish over the next few months.

Upstate New York gardeners share a fall to-do list, beside gloved hands tending flowers

Last winter, they say, the icy, drying winds took chunks right out of their boxwoods. That experience shaped nearly everything on this year’s checklist. Here is how they are getting their garden ready before the snow flies.

Pull the Annuals

An annual only stays for one season, and the hosts say it gives you maximum flower power before it has to go. They plan to remove theirs before winter to make room for fresh flowers in spring.

The coleus will definitely look bad after the first frost, they say. The salvia might hold up a little longer, but everything starts petering out.

Know Your Hydrangeas Before You Cut

Not every hydrangea needs the same treatment, and this is where the hosts say gardeners go wrong. Their smooth hydrangeas, the family that includes Invincibelle Sublime, Invincibelle Ruby, Spirit and Blush, get cut back in the fall. Because they get heavy, wet, icy snow in zone 6A, snow piles onto the plants, presses them into the ground and snaps them. One host takes a hedge trimmer and cuts them between knee and hip height.

Panicle hydrangeas, which bloom on new wood just like the smooth type, get deadheaded in the fall. A variety such as Pinky Winky may not get pressed flat, but Quick Fire Fab definitely catches snow, so they make it a priority to deadhead the big panicles before the heavy wet snows arrive. The detailed pruning, they say, waits until spring.

The others get left alone. Mountain hydrangea (Tuff Stuff Top Fun) blooms on old and new wood, and cutting it back risks removing next year’s buds. The oakleaf variety (Gatsby Pink) flowers on old wood, and its buds for next year are already on the plant. Bigleaf hydrangea (Let’s Dance Sky View) also blooms on old and new wood, so they only deadhead the flower itself if they want to bring a bloom inside.

Cut Back Floppy Roses

For roses, they trim canes that have flopped out. Anything short or sturdy stays, because if there is dieback they want it to begin high on the plant rather than near the ground. Even a sturdy-looking rose will flop under snow, so they cut those down to no more than about 3 feet high.

They do not fertilize in fall, and they stop deadheading after August because they want to see the rose hips. This year they also finally have every rose caged in black chicken wire at the base, which helps in spring when rabbits go after tender new growth.

Protect Boxwoods and Broadleaf Evergreens

This is the lesson from last winter. After losing chunks of their boxwoods to icy winds, they plan to spray Wilt Proof, also called Wilt Stop, a pine resin product that coats broadleaf evergreen foliage and cuts down on drying out. A recommendation from their viewers prompted the move.

They say they used it once or twice early in their gardening journey and it worked well, then forgot about it as the seasons went by. The brutal winter reminded them that some of their favorite little plants need help getting through the cold months.

Cut Ornamental Grasses Low

The hosts admit this one might be controversial. They cut their ornamental grasses back in the fall, down to about 3 or 4 inches. A tall Northwind switchgrass looks gorgeous, they say, but it can barely hold up under the weight of rain, and the lightest snow flops it over.

The result is hay blowing around the garden and smothering plants nearby. They understand the value of leaving grasses standing for critters and have tried to keep them upright, but they report no trouble with the grasses coming back in spring.

Keep Weeding and Treat Perennials Gently

Just when you want to sit down with a pumpkin spice latte, they say, you need to get out and weed. Fall is when weeds take off, just like in spring, because cooler, wetter weather helps roots get established, and that goes for weeds too. Annual weeds may have already set seed, and perennial weeds should come out of the ground.

Perennials, on the other hand, come with no pressure. Cherry Truffles heuchera is semi-evergreen and mulches itself over winter, so it stays. A Summerific hibiscus is left standing because its hollow stems leave a hole at the top that lets in water and rot if cut. Phlox gets cut back low, while baptisia and Serendipity allium can stay up for structure. Perennials will not regrow until spring anyway, so the hosts say to put cutting them back at the bottom of the list and enjoy the seed heads the birds like.

Winterize the Lawn and Water Features

For the lawn, they blow out the in-ground irrigation so the pipes do not freeze, mow super short, fertilize and make sure it is well watered. Mowing short keeps the grass from lying on top of itself and smothering over winter, and it lets spring sun reach the base of the grass.

Watering still matters in fall, they add. They are putting drip irrigation on a newly planted section of azaleas, and they save seed from Verbena bonariensis by tying stems in a bag. A pond company drains and cleans their pondless waterfall and spillway bowl, and they blow out their two fountains with a leaf blower, dry them, clean them and cover them. Once nights are consistently below freezing, the hoses come into the garage.

Why a Fall List Pays Off

None of these chores is fancy, but together they decide what the garden looks like in April. If you are in a snowy area, start with the plants most likely to break under heavy snow, such as smooth hydrangeas, big panicles and floppy roses. Then protect any broadleaf evergreens, empty and cover your water features, and bring in the hoses before the first hard freeze. Everything else, as the hosts point out, can wait.

Willow and Hearth