Cutting back perennial plants in your garden

Now we are in the autumn it’s time to cut back your perennial plant’s such as hostas, asters and Rudbeckia. As they start to die back moving the energy in the stems they have created over the spring and summer back into the root system ready to use next spring as they regrow for another year to flower again.
It’s an annual gardening task to cut back the resulting dead growth and compost it. It’s also a good time to divide some of your perirenal plants. Digging up the clump and dividing with a spade or with two forks back to back pushed apart to split the clump.
With a large clump, this can be carried out several times to create several clumps.
The benefit of dividing many perennial plants is that it helps reduce the size and maintain flowering as often overgrown plants tend not to flower too well in the summer and spring. Not all perirenal plants are suitable for dividing for example agapanthus tend to flower with more flowering in a large established clump.
Once you have divided and replanted your perennial plant the next stage is to mulch your borders to help with weed prevention and reduce the watering you will need to carry out in the summer