Started this native garden last year zone 7b, my first time! I left everything be in the fall and winter and now don’t know what’s best to do, should I cut everything back? It’s all going to come back right? 😭 I think I’m going to cut down my milkweed as I read the monarchs prefer fresh growth. But what about everything else? Thanks in advance, I’m learning so much!
by International_Back86
7 Comments
I would wait until the overnight lows are consistently in the 50’s before cutting it back.
You dont need to rush it. Wait until overnight lows are in the 50s consistently. Seriously, go out to a prairie right now and see how much dead pmant material is on the ground. These plants evolved to emerge through all thag material.
Looks incredible! And agreed wait til 50s
There are many insects that overwinter in and nest in hollow stems. I’m waiting a bit to clean up on account of this
Many/most woody things go dormant and will sprout new growth from the old growth, while other things die back to the ground and re-grow from the root system. The former you wouldn’t want to cut back, the latter you can. It isn’t always easy to predict what’s going to do what, so I would wait until spring to see what vegetation is truly dead vs just dormant. As others have said, critters use the dead growth for overwintering, so don’t cut and throw it away.
I know it’s warmed up fast, but like others are saying, wait until the lows are consistently out of the 40s. I’m in 8a and even though we’re having mid 80s this week, we will see lows of 27-30 several nights next week.
Let fake spring be fake spring. We’ve have 3 or so weeks of this left
There was actually [a study](https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/garden-cleanup-for-pollinators-trim-perennial-stems-in-their-first-winter) done on this! For first-year growth, cut them back but leave 12-24 inches for solitary bees to nest in. After that ideally you should leave them to break down naturally.