Pruning spring-blooming shrubs in the fall can be a mistake, as you might inadvertently remove next year’s blooms. Instead, it's best to trim them after they have finished flowering to ensure their beauty for the following season.

Lilac, weigela, magnolia, rhododendron, azalea, forsythia, flowering cherry, crabapple, and pear trees, dogwood, redbud, spirea, viburnum.

For more specific pruning information, see Cornell’s pruning guide

TRANSCRIPT

We are going to talk about what shrubs you shouldn't cut back in the late fall.

This is a prime example. This is a Jane Magnolia. I just planted it this year, so it's still pretty small. But this is an early spring bloomer, and that's why we don't want to cut it back. Not because it's going to kill the plant, but because when you cut back too much, you're potentially cutting off next year's blooms. And that's something we don't want to do.

Now, if your plant has a diseased, dead, or broken branch, you can prune that back at any time. But as far as the spring bloomers go, and there's a list in the description of ones that you shouldn't cut back in the fall, you need to leave them alone.

Okay, when do you prune them? You prune them right after flowering. So as soon as they drop all their petals, that would be a good time to shape the plant.