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Notebook · Guide 1 October 2026 · seasonal

Cutting back perennials: what to cut in autumn and what to leave till spring

You don't have to clear the border every autumn. Which perennials to cut now, which to leave standing for frost protection and wildlife, and when to start in spring.

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A frosty winter border with perennial seedheads left standing — sedum flower heads, grass plumes and coneflower seedheads — with a small bird on a seedhead.
1Seedheads left standing look good with frost and feed birds.

The old autumn ritual — cut every perennial to the ground and leave the border bare — has gone out of fashion, and for good reasons. Standing stems and seedheads give winter structure, feed birds, shelter insects and protect some plants' crowns from frost. The RHS treats both autumn and spring cutting as valid. The skill is knowing which plants go now and which wait.

In pictures

  1. A penstemon in early spring with old woody stems still standing and fresh green shoots at the base, with a honey dashed cut line just above the new growth.
    2Penstemons in spring: cut the old stems just above the new shoots.
  2. A peony in autumn with its yellowed leaves and stems being cut down to soil level.
    3Peonies can be cut to the ground in autumn.
  3. Healthy chopped-up plant stems being added to a garden compost bin.
    4Chop healthy stems up before they go on the compost.

01Cut in autumn

  • Anything collapsed, soggy or rotting — it won't look good and can harbour disease.
  • Anything with diseased foliage — and keep it off the compost heap.
  • Plants whose leaves come from below ground, such as crocosmia and peony: cut to soil level.

02Leave standing until spring

  • Good-looking seedheads — eryngium, grasses, sedums. They look good with frost on them and feed birds.
  • Borderline-hardy perennials — penstemons and tender salvias. The old stems protect the crown from frost. Wait until the risk of frost has passed, usually April or May.
  • Evergreen perennials — some kniphofias and sedges. Just tidy dead leaves.

03Go gently

Plants already showing new shoots at the base, such as asters and sedums, get cut back less hard so you don't damage the new growth.

04Spring cutting: step by step

  1. Start from March for most perennials.
  2. Look before you cut. Find the new shoots at the base first.
  3. Cut old stems down to just above the fresh growth, without damaging it.
  4. Grasses: see ornamental grasses — deciduous ones are cut down, evergreen ones are only combed.

05What to do with the debris

Healthy material goes on the compost heap — chopped up, it rots faster. Diseased material goes in the council green-waste bin.

Save your money
Leaving stems standing costs nothing and saves you an autumn afternoon.
Seedheads are free bird food.
Don't lose your penstemons to an early tidy. The stems are their winter coat.

How we checked this

Every care and safety claim on this page is verified against horticultural and veterinary sources.

Sources: RHS — Perennials: cutting back · RHS — Ornamental grasses: cutting back

Checked 1 October 2026. If our advice ever conflicts with the RHS, believe them and tell us.