Households urged to 'never' prune 8 plants in November

As the year winds down, the prospect of tending to the garden can seem increasingly daunting. However, there are still numerous tasks to be done - from collecting fallen leaves to cutting back weary perennials, reports WalesOnline.

The silver lining for gardeners hoping to keep their to-do lists manageable as winter nears is that certain plants are best left alone for now. Gardening expert Simon from the channel has put together a list of eight plants you should definitely avoid pruning this month. He explained: "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."

Azaleas, Simon pointed out, are often categorised under the rhododendron umbrella, and his advice about refraining from pruning azaleas applies 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 adds, 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."

By comparison, camellias develop large, conspicuous buds, yet some gardeners are still enticed to prune them during this time. They may look rather dishevelled, 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," he added. "Please don't."

Along with rhododendrons, azaleas, and camellias, Simon urged gardeners to avoid cutting magnolias and lilacs for the same reason.

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 is especially vulnerable, Simon cautions.

The towering, graceful shrub, which yields white, powerfully scented flowers in early summer, can frequently appear like "an absolute state" at this time of year, he concedes. "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 concluded 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."