As the year draws to a close, there are still plenty of gardening jobs to complete – but there are some plants you should avoid pruning in November
10:23, 07 Nov 2025Updated 10:27, 07 Nov 2025
As the year draws to a close, there are still plenty of gardening jobs to complete – but there are some plants you should avoid pruning in November(Image: Mark de Leeuw via Getty Images)
As the year winds down, stepping into the garden can seem increasingly uninviting. However, there remain numerous tasks to tackle – from collecting fallen leaves to cutting back weary perennials, reports Wales Online.
The positive news for gardeners seeking to keep their to-do lists reasonable as winter draws near is that particular plants are best left alone for now. Horticultural specialist Simon from the Walking Talking Gardeners YouTube channel has put together a list of eight plants you absolutely shouldn’t prune this month.
He said: “For many gardeners, November is the month when they do their final tidy-up of the garden – putting it to bed for winter. For most, it’s the last bit of work they’ll do outside before the cold really sets in. And that’s not because there won’t be anything to do – there’ll still be plenty of jobs to tackle as the winter months go on.”
You should be very careful about when you prune your azaleas(Image: Getty)Azaleas
Azaleas, Simon observed, are often grouped under the rhododendron category, and his guidance about steering clear of pruning azaleas extends equally to rhododendrons.
“The thing with both these plants,” he explained, “is that they take an entire season to produce their flower buds. As soon as they finish flowering in the spring, new growth comes through, and those new, very tiny buds begin to appear in the terminal rosette at the end of the stem.”
The buds are so tiny that they can easily be overlooked, he added, making it all too easy to snip off these valuable buds without realising. “I can understand people making that mistake with azaleas,” he said.
“They think the plants look a bit messy and give them a cut – and then there’ll be no flowers in the spring.”
Camellias, rhododendrons, magnolias and lilacs
By comparison, camellias develop large, obvious buds, yet some gardeners remain eager to prune them during this time. They may look rather scruffy, Simon noted.
“You have a lot of extending growth looking messy at this time of year, and I can understand why people would cut these – and I do see them cutting them, even though quite obviously you’ve got massive flower buds all waiting to come out in the spring. Don’t cut them.”
Along with rhododendrons, azaleas, and camellias, Simon implores gardeners to avoid cutting back magnolias and lilacs for identical reasons.
Philadelphus is at particular risk, Simon said(Image: Getty)Forsythia, ribes and philadelphus
These robust deciduous shrubs, frequently cultivated for their pollen-rich blooms, continue to be favoured selections in British gardens. Nevertheless, all three are susceptible to being pruned prematurely, and Philadelphus faces particular danger, Simon warned.
The towering, sweeping shrub, which yields white, powerfully scented flowers in early summer, can frequently appear like “an absolute state” at this time of year, he admitted. “You’ve really got to steel your resolve to not go out and prune it back into a tidy shape.”
If you do, he explained, you risk removing the growth the plant relies on as a foundation for next year’s blooms.
Simon finished by suggesting other productive gardening tasks for November: “November is the time you plant your tulip bulbs. November is the time you sow your hardy annual flowering plants and your sweet peas.
“It’s also the time you start sowing your broad beans… hardy peas. There’s a long list of seeds that you should be sowing.”
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