A relaxed approach to gardening can be as good for your back yard as it is for your own back – for instance, experts advise against pruning ivy in autumn as its late-blooming flowers provide a much-needed food source for birds and bugs in winter.
In the same vein, leaving fallen leaves in a heap rather than raking them can provide a welcome habitat for beleaguered beasties.
The relaxed advice ought to be welcome – but if you’re obsessive about your oxalis or a petunia perfectionist, it can be harder to let nature do it’s thing than you’d think.
As the first months of 2025 roll in, garden designer and creative director of Studio Pollyanna Landscape Design, Pollyanna Wilkinson, recently shared an Instagram Reel urging us not to give in to a tempting gardening spree.
Now is not the time to deadhead your hydrangeas or lavender
In the video, Pollyanna explained a list of jobs not to complete in the garden this January and February.
First on her list was deadheading hydrangeas and second was removing the woody, rather unpleasant-looking post-winter lavender sprigs image-conscious gardeners have likely been itching to cut.
Deadheading, or cutting off dead flower heads, usually helps to promote the growth of new blooms – it also tidies up any scrappy stems and generally neatens the appearance of your hedges and hanging baskets.
But in the colder months, Pollyanna says hydrangea’s “old, fading flower heads are acting like a nice, warm blanket… for the winter, and now is not the time to go ripping them off”.
You should put your pruning shears down when it comes to browned lavender stems for much the same reason, the landscaper added; no matter how “tatty” they look.
Can I prune any plants in winter?
Yes! BBC’s Gardener’s World says that now is the perfect time to get snip-happy with your roses, fruit bushes, apple and pear trees, and deciduous shrubs.
However the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) advises against pruning ornamental cherries, plums and almonds in the chillier months, as this can lead to silver leaf.
In general, you should put off deadheading spring-flowering flowers until their first bloom, they add.
If you need a job to do in the meantime, the RHS recommends placing nutrient-rich mulch or feed around trees, hedges, and climbers – they’ll need the extra feed at this time of year.