Before the first frost
Winter jobs
20 of 28 plants need something doing to them. The rest can be left entirely alone, which is the correct amount of gardening.
Lift and store2
- Canna lilyWait for the first frost to blacken the foliage, then cut the stems down to about 15cm, lift the rhizomes, knock most of the soil off and let them dry for a day. Store them in barely-damp compost somewhere frost-free — a garage or shed is ideal, and they want checking a couple of times over winter for rot. The alternative is leaving them in with a 15cm mulch over the crown in a sheltered spot, which works in a mild dry winter and loses you the plant in a wet one.
- DahliaWait for the first frost to blacken the foliage, then cut the stems to about 10cm and lift the clump carefully with a fork from well outside the crown. Wash off the soil, stand the tubers upside down for a fortnight somewhere dry so the hollow stems drain, then pack them in dry compost or vermiculite in a box in a frost-free shed or garage and check monthly for rot. In a sheltered, free-draining spot you can instead leave them in and cover the crown with 15cm of dry mulch — but be honest about the drainage, because a wet winter kills far more tubers than a cold one.
Move away from cold glass2
- Christmas cactusIt flowers over the winter rather than sleeping through it, so this is the season it needs paying attention. Keep it cool and out of draughts from doors and cold glass, and well away from a radiator, which will shorten the flowering by weeks. Once buds have formed, stop moving it.
- Rubber plantCold glass and draughts are what make it drop leaves in January, so shift it a foot or two back from the window and away from any door that opens to outside. Keep it off the top of a radiator too, which dries the air and crisps the leaf edges. Much less light means much less water — cold, wet compost is the classic winter houseplant killer. No feeding until spring.
Protect from winter wet1
Water much less6
- AnthuriumWater sparingly through the winter and stop feeding altogether. The thing it genuinely will not tolerate is cold — it wants to stay above about 18°C, which is warmer than most rooms get overnight, so keep it well away from cold glass and external doors. A cold, wet winter is what turns the crown to mush.
- Chinese money plantWater perhaps every two or three weeks through the winter, and only when the compost is properly dry. Keep it above 10°C and off cold windowsills, but it does not need coddling — cold wet compost is the only real risk. No feeding until spring.
- Heartleaf philodendronGrowth stops from about November and the watering should stop with it — every two or three weeks, and only when the compost is dry well below the surface. Keep it off cold windowsills and away from radiators. No feeding until March.
- MonsteraMuch less light means much less water — go from weekly to roughly every two or three weeks, and only when the top of the compost is properly dry. Cold compost that stays wet is the classic winter houseplant killer. Keep it off cold windowsills and out of draughts from doors, and away from a radiator, which will crisp the leaf edges. No feeding until spring.
- PalmMuch less light means much less water — every two or three weeks, and only once the compost is dry well below the surface. Keep it above 10°C, off cold glass and away from radiators, which dry the air and brown the tips faster than anything else in the house. No feeding until spring.
- White princess philodendronWater perhaps every two or three weeks and stop feeding. It dislikes anything below about 15°C, so keep it off cold windowsills and away from doors to outside. Growth stops almost completely and any new leaf it does make over winter will come out small and mostly green — leave it be until the light returns.
Cut back6
- Bear's breechesCut the collapsed leaves and any remaining spikes back in late autumn or early winter — the dead foliage turns to slime and hides slugs. It needs no protection at all. New leaves usually push through in February, earlier than you expect.
- Border phloxCut the stems right down in late autumn and take the debris away rather than leaving it on the soil — it carries eelworm and mildew through to next year. No protection needed.
- Double daylilyCut the yellowing foliage down to a hand's width above the crown once it flops in late autumn. Nothing to protect — it is reliably hardy here.
- Hardy geraniumClear away the collapsed foliage once it has gone brown and slimy — slugs overwinter in it. The crown is fully hardy and needs nothing else.
- HollyhockCut the spent spikes down and clear every scrap of old leaf off the ground — bin it, do not compost it, because rust overwinters on dead foliage and on any leaf rosettes left behind. The plant itself will probably die after flowering, and that is normal for a biennial. Leave one seedhead to shed if you want it back next year.
- YarrowEither cut the stems down after the last flowers or leave the flat seedheads standing — they hold frost well and the birds pick them over — then cut back in early spring. It needs no protection; the only thing that harms it here is winter wet on heavy soil.
Mulch3
- Japanese mapleHardy here, so there is nothing to protect. Mulch in autumn or spring, keeping it off the trunk, and do any cutting now while the sap is not moving.
- Pale pink shrub roseNothing to protect — it is fully hardy. A barrow of compost or manure spread round the base over winter is worth doing, more for the soil than the rose. Save the actual pruning for late winter.
- Shrub roseHardy, so there is very little to do. Clear fallen leaves from underneath it, mulch the base without piling anything against the stems, and leave the pruning until late winter.
Leave well alone8
Hardy enough to look after themselves. Tidying these in autumn does more harm than good.