Pruning at the wrong time can be a disaster, but Monty Don’s six-word rhyme can prevent the mistake.
Sophie Law Deputy Editor Spare Time
07:14, 09 Mar 2026
Monty Don’s guidance boils down to a memorable six-word mantra(Image: Getty Images)
As gardens start stirring to life this March, countless gardeners are grabbing their secateurs to neaten plants and stimulate fresh growth. However, trimming at the incorrect moment can prove disastrous, potentially removing this year’s entire floral display.
According to gardening expert and presenter Monty Don, one straightforward rhyme can help avoid this common blunder. His guidance boils down to a memorable six-word mantra: “Flowers before June, do not prune.”
Whilst it might seem oversimplified, this rule assists gardeners in differentiating between plants that blossom on mature wood and those that flower on current season’s growth.
As Monty explains on his gardening blog, “The old rhyme ‘if it flowers before June do not prune’ will get you out of most trouble.”
Numerous spring-blooming shrubs develop their buds on stems formed during the preceding year. This means the flower buds that will burst open this spring were actually created last summer.
When these plants are trimmed during late winter or early spring, gardeners frequently strip away those buds before they get the opportunity to flower.
According to gardening expert and presenter Monty Don, one straightforward rhyme can help avoid this common blunder(Image: Colin McPherson/Corbis via Getty Images)
Rather than this approach, Monty Don recommends pruning them once they’ve completed flowering, enabling the plant to generate fresh shoots that will bear flowers next year.
This principle extends to various beloved garden shrubs, including forsythia, lilac, philadelphus (mock orange), weigela and amelanchier. All of these develop their blooms on the previous year’s growth, so cutting them back now could result in forfeiting most of the spring spectacle.
Once blooms have finished in late spring or early summer, though, they can be safely trimmed and pruned into shape.
Below are Monty Don’s pruning guidelines for four popular garden plants and shrubs:
Roses
Pruning at the incorrect moment can prove disastrous(Image: Dougal Waters via Getty Images)
“There is a lot of mystique about rose pruning, whereas the reality is that they are all tough shrubs that can take a mauling by anything from secateurs to a flail cutter and bounce back,” Monty said in his blog. “However, there are three considerations to bear in mind when pruning roses.”
The initial point concerns Hybrid teas, floribunda and Hybrid perpetuals, which produce flowers on the current season’s growth. “So they should be pruned hard each spring,” he explained.
Shrub roses require very little pruning – “I prune mine in winter and early spring.”
True climbers, meanwhile, benefit from pruning during autumn or winter, whilst ramblers need cutting back just once during mid-summer.
Buddleia
Not every plant adheres to the “avoid pruning” guidance in spring. Some actually thrive with a vigorous trim during this period.
Monty said: “If you live in the south or a sheltered area, February is the best time to prune the Butterfly bush, Buddleia davidii, and it can be done any time in the coming month in colder areas. It produces its flowers on new growth so if it is cut back hard new, just before it begins growing, you will both stimulate extra new shoots and make sure that the shrub has as high a proportion of flower to wood as possible.”
Monty frequently encourages garden enthusiasts not to shy away from a good prune when it comes to buddleia. This shrub can be drastically cut back to a low framework, typically around 30–60cm above the soil, eliminating any weak or intersecting stems.
Clematis
The pruning of clematis often leaves gardeners scratching their heads, but a handy rhyme provides some guidance.
Early-flowering clematis varieties, such as Clematis montana, Clematis alpina and Clematis armandii, blossom in spring on the previous year’s growth, which means they should not be pruned prior to flowering.
Instead, these should only be pruned post-flowering, once the blooms have faded.
In contrast, later-flowering clematis behave differently. Many summer-blooming varieties, including Clematis viticella and Clematis jackmanii, flower on new growth.
These can be pruned hard in late winter or early spring, often cutting the stems back to approximately 20–30cm above the ground.
Hydrangeas
Many popular varieties, particularly mophead and lacecap hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla), adhere to Monty Don’s rule because they also bloom on old wood.
Pruning them too severely in spring risks removing the buds that will yield summer flowers. Instead, Don advocates a gentler approach, advising gardeners to remove the old flower heads and trim back to a pair of healthy buds below.
This straightforward clean-up – known as deadheading – safeguards the developing buds whilst keeping the shrub tidy.
Nevertheless, certain hydrangea varieties display different characteristics. Hydrangea paniculata and Hydrangea arborescens, which includes the popular ‘Annabelle’, produce blooms on fresh growth.
These particular species can be cut back more substantially during late winter or early spring to promote robust new shoots and more impressive flowers as the season progresses.
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