DENVER — Do not cut back perennials, ornamental grasses, roses, or any tree or shrub that blooms in spring.
Cutting back perennials exposes the "crown" of the plant (the area right at the surface) to the worst of cold weather. Leave the perennials up to enjoy their freeze-dried beauty. Some also provide seeds for birds.
We grow ornamental grasses because they're great in all seasons but especially in winter. Cutting them down defeats their whole purpose. The proper time to cut back grasses is late winter or early spring.
Never prune roses in fall. Pruning encourages new growth and that's the last thing you want now. When that new growth dies from winter cold it can take the whole rose bush with it.
Hybrid tea roses need protection. Mound soil around the base to protect the graft. The graft is that knob near the base where the hybrid tea is grafted onto wild rose roots. If that graft freezes and fails, the top hybrid tea dies.
Sometimes the wild rose roots will sprout in spring but this is not a rose you want. It's just a mass of thorns with no flowers.
Spring-blooming trees and shrubs set their flower buds months ago. If you prune them now, you're cutting off their spring flowers.
So put away pruners and loppers. The time to use them will come early next spring.
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