The Best Shrubs to Prune in Fall and Why

Fall is a great time to do some upkeep on your home landscape. Most growth has slowed or is done for the year, making fall pruning perfect. Minor pruning to clean up can improve airflow, crucial for the plants’ overall health.

This is also a time when your shrubs need to focus their energy underground, on the root system. Less growth above ground helps improve your root system. That can lead to explosive growth come spring.

Fall pruning is the best time for flowering shrubs that bloom on new wood. BUT, avoid any heavy fall pruning on spring-flowering shrubs that bud on old wood. Examples include forsythia, lilac, azalea, rhododendron, spirea, and more.

Fall Pruning Tips From a Professional Landscaper

• Fall pruning should be done on dry days, avoiding any morning dew or moisture. Making cuts on shrubs when moisture is around invites diseases.
• Limit your fall pruning to no more than one-third of the shrub.
• Clean your pruning shears and make sure they are sharp.
• Heavy pruning could push out new, tender growth that would be susceptible to frost damage.

If all else fails, follow the three D’s.

Focus your fall pruning to foliage that is dead, damaged, or diseased. If all else fails, prune out the three D’s first. Then some minor fall pruning for shape is okay.

Top Shrubs for Fall Pruning and Why

• Panicle hydrangeas and smooth/Annabelle-type hydrangeas: These bloom on new wood. Fall is a good time to remove spent blooms and weak or crossing stems, and to shape or reduce height lightly. This encourages stronger new growth and buds in spring. Do not do this to bigleaf, oakleaf, or mountain hydrangeas, which bloom on old wood.
• Butterfly bush: Butterfly bushes bloom on new wood. Cut older branches, referred to as canes, back by about one-third to control size, and promote stronger, more explosive blooms the following year.
• Summer-blooming spirea (e.g., Japanese spirea): Summer-blooming spirea blooms on new wood. Keep your fall pruning to light trimming such as removing dead branches, spent blooms, and old foliage.  This helps encourage compact, rounded growth next season. Popular spring-blooming Spirea, like the Bridal Wreath, should not be pruned in Spring.
• Rose of Sharon: Another popular landscape shrub that blooms on new wood. Light fall pruning to shape the plant and remove weak or dead stems will not affect spring flowering.
• Chaste tree/vitex (Vitex): Blooms on new wood. Tidy up the form, remove dead wood, and thin crowded branches for denser growth and better flowering next year.⁠Naturehills
• Many roses (especially shrub/landscape types like Knock Out): Fall pruning on roses, such as the Knock Out series, is highly recommended. Starts after the first hard frost, once most leaves have dropped. These roses can handle heavy pruning and bounce back the next spring. Yoy can prune off the height by about one-half on tall canes to encourage new growth and blooms the next season. Fall pruning of dead, diseased, or crossing canes improves airflow and health.
• Potentilla: Responds well to hard fall pruning. Cutting back 6 to 8 inches helps encourage strong new growth for the spring.
• Others sometimes recommended: Lavender and rosemary (after flowering, especially in milder climates); herbaceous peonies (cut foliage to the ground after it yellows/frost); and limited tidying of beautyberry or heather depending on climate.
• Certain evergreens (boxwood, arborvitae, juniper, etc.): Only light trimming of stray or overgrown branches for neatness. Avoid heavy cuts that expose inner growth to frost damage. NOTE! Fall pruning on evergreen shrubs can be risky. Read our step-by-step guide for fall pruning evergreen shrubs here.

Important Tips and Precautions

Avoid fall pruning on spring-blooming shrubs that set buds on old wood (lilac, forsythia, azalea, rhododendron, oakleaf/bigleaf hydrangeas, bridal wreath spirea, etc.), or you will cut off next year’s flowers. I learned this the hard way years ago on a Lynwood Gold Forsythia that had become overgrown. My heavy-handed fall pruning resulted in few, if any, yellow blooms in spring. Heavy pruning of most shrubs in early/mid-fall can also push soft new growth that freezes. When in doubt, stick to removing only the “three Ds” (dead, damaged, diseased) and wait until late winter/early spring for major work on many plants. Local climate and exact variety matter. Check your specific plant or, even better, contact your county agricultural extension office. Every county in the country has one. Many locations in urban areas are often underutilized. They can be a great resource for home landscape enthusiasts.