Prune These 7 Plants in October and They Will Come Back Better and Stronger Next Year

October is a transitional month as the temperatures and the colors change across our gardens. Gone are the long, hot summer days, replaced by richer tones, falling leaves, and the need for an extra layer when out gardening. This change in the air heralds a shift in pruning, from encouraging new growth to preserving energy and neatening beds.

You can get pleasantly warm days earlier in October, but things change. Temperatures can drop substantially through the month, and frosts arrive across northern regions, the Great Plains, and the mid-Atlantic. As the thermometer drops, some plants need pruning for protection, and perennials that look far from their summer prime can benefit from a trim to tidy them up.

There are perennials, spring bulbs, and bare-root shrubs you can plant in October to boost your beds. For example, this lovely Tulip Spring Romance collection at Dutch Grown creates a delicate display of white and pink. But give your existing plants time too, as many ornamentals and edibles can benefit from some attention. This guide to plants to prune in October highlights seven, including traditional favorites like roses, dahlias, and hostas. Get your pruning tools at the ready.

Asparagus

When you grow asparagus, cutting it back is an important part of the crop’s annual maintenance. Getting the routine right year after year produces the best asparagus harvests and helps the plants live a long time – up to 20 years in the right circumstances.

Gardeners pick asparagus for a few short weeks (usually 4-6) in late spring and early summer. Then you want to let the spears do their thing; they’ll grow on and produce fern-like tops. Letting them do this keeps the plant photosynthesizing and storing energy in the roots for next year.

Once the foliage naturally dies back and turns brown or yellow, it is time to cut back the asparagus. It often comes after the first frost, which varies by climate, but for some gardeners it starts in late October. Take your pruning shears (I have used a pair of Felco F2 pruners, available on Amazon, to do this task for many years) and cut the stems back to the ground.

If you don’t cut the foliage back in the fall, asparagus beetles overwinter in the stems and come back stronger next year. To battle this pest, cut the asparagus fern back and remove the debris to give them nowhere to hide and overwinter.

Dahlias

Gardeners who routinely grow dahlias know the time to cut back the plants and prepare them for winter is coming. The flowers have been a delight over recent months, but as the temperature drops, the end is near.

Dahlias are tender plants that need to be lifted from the ground in colder hardiness zones – though some gardeners may be able to leave theirs in the ground with protection if they have milder winters.

The window to prune dahlias back starts in late October. The right time to cut them back is after the first frost and when the stems have turned black.

Prune the stem back to six inches from the ground with a pair of loppers, then carefully lift the tubers from the soil. These Fiskars PowerGear2 loppers from The Home Depot are perfect for cutting through the thick stems this month.

Keep the lifted tubers somewhere dry and frost-free for a period to dry out before storing them away for winter in cardboard boxes or paper bags.

This routine is important for all types of dahlias to prevent tubers from being lost to cold or rot during the winter months. When you overwinter dahlias, it’s crucial to check them regularly. If you spot any signs of rot, cut the affected part away to preserve the rest of the tuber.

Raspberries

Raspberries are a popular fruit in vegetable gardens around the world. There are different types, and when to prune raspberries depends on which you are growing.

Fall-fruiting raspberries produce their fruit on new growth and crop later in the year. They may still be cropping in your garden in October. These don’t want to be pruned until late winter – so leave them well alone this month.

On the other hand, summer-fruiting raspberries will be past their cropping period. These types fruit on the previous year’s wood and need pruning after harvesting. If you haven’t done it yet, now is the time to prune these raspberries.

It is a quick and simple task. Cut all the stems that fruited this year to the ground – these will be browner in color than the green new canes.

Then thin the new canes to leave the good selection spaced 6-8 inches apart. Tie these new canes to your supports with soft plant ties (like these Velcro plant ties at Walmart) to prevent them from getting damaged by wind.

Catmint

Catmint, or Nepeta, always impresses in summer with its spikes of blue flowers and aromatic grey-green foliage. However, come fall it can look messy, as the stems have an unfortunate habit of drooping. This is not only a bit of an eyesore, but it can be troublesome if the flopping material covers garden paths, steps, or the edges of lawns.

When you grow catmint, there is no harm in giving the plant a bit of a tidy-up in October to stop it from being a slip hazard or smothering the grass.

Simply take a pair of hedge shears and remove a few inches of the growth to neaten it up. But don’t be too heavy-handed if you prune catmint in October; remove the problematic sections and leave the rest to prune in spring. Leaving most of the old stems insulates the plant from winter frosts.

This set of ARS KR-1000 hedge shears on Amazon is super-sharp and lightweight, and perfect for quickly trimming back perennials.

Hosta

In summer, the glorious foliage of hostas, which comes in a wide range of colors, shapes, and sizes, brings luxurious texture, interest, and structure to flower beds. There is a richness to their leaves as they form large mounds and cover the ground.

Anyone who grows and cares for hostas knows this appeal quickly drops in the fall, especially once the frost has obliterated the leaves. The foliage turns into a brown, slimy mess that provides an ideal hiding spot for slug and snail eggs over winter.

If you cut back hostas in the fall, you remove these unwanted pests that can otherwise come eat the fresh growth next spring, and stop bacteria and fungi from building up in the decaying foliage.

Once the leaves start going yellow and dying back, cut them back to the ground with your pruning shears. Remove the plant material so slugs and snails can’t hide in piles of debris during winter.

Roses

The traditional time to prune roses is in late winter. That is still the best window for your main rose pruning. However, if you plant roses in windy or exposed sites, it is advisable to give them a quick trim in mid-to-late October to prevent ‘wind rock’.

Wind rock occurs when strong winter gales buffet plants. The back-and-forth movement caused by strong winds can loosen a rose at the base, damaging the roots and, in the worst case, uprooting the shrub. Roses are shallow-rooted shrubs, which makes them especially susceptible to wind rock – particularly when they are newly planted.

Prune your shrub roses by a third after the last flowers have faded. Return in late winter to finish the traditional pruning and stimulate fresh growth that will carry flowers next summer.

It is also beneficial to remove any foliage from the ground that shows any signs of rose black spot. Infected leaves harbour spores that can remain in the soil and infect your roses next year. Collect them all and dispose of them.

Beech

October is the last opportunity to give beech and hornbeam hedges a quick trim to keep them looking neat and tidy for winter. Deciduous hedging plants like these are great for privacy hedges, as they form a dense barrier and retain lots of their leaves for winter.

They grow quickly in spring and summer, so they often need two trims a year to look in shape. Once in spring after their first spurt of growth, and the other in fall when they slow down again. October is a good time for the second trim, as the weather is mild enough to recover from a prune rather than face a nasty freeze right away.

You don’t need to prune the hedges hard. Instead, opt for a light trim with hedge shears or a hedge trimmer (get a cordless hedge trimmer with a battery and charger at Amazon) to remove the fresh growth and leave a straight hedge that will provide formal structure over winter.

An established deciduous hedge should have a solid framework to cut back to. However, a newer hedge may require string tied between two canes to give you a line to cut to. Any hedge trimmings can be used to make compost.

What to Shop

This list of plants to prune in October can give gardeners plenty of ideas for any fall gardening checklist. However, while you may be tempted to tidy up as many plants as possible in fall, there are some to avoid this month. To help you avoid mistakes, our guide to plants to never prune in October highlights some spring-flowering shrubs and perennials you shouldn’t touch over the next few weeks.

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