Overview
- Gardeners are urged to keep many spent perennials, grasses, seedheads and leaf piles in place because they provide frost protection and vital habitat and food for insects, hedgehogs and birds.
- Major pruning belongs in the October–February window under nature-protection rules, with only gentle maintenance allowed from March to September and only if no birds are breeding.
- Timing should follow bloom cycles, with summer-flowering shrubs cut in late winter or early spring and spring-flowering shrubs pruned only after they finish blooming, not in autumn.
- Practical winterizing steps include covering tender container plants with fleece or jute, draining outdoor water lines, covering rain barrels, cleaning and oiling tools, and mulching beds with compost.
- November still offers a last chance for selective work on robust plants: cut back autumn raspberries to near ground after harvest, remove older elder canes, trim maples on mild frost-free days, and give roses a light form cut using clean, sharp tools.