Don’t prune these now

✗ FORSYTHIA Any shrub that flowers on the previous spring should never be cut now or you’ll have no flowers next year.

✗ SIBERIAN DOGWOOD If you cut Cornus alba now, you’ll lose the beautiful winter stems.

✗ EVERGREEN GRASSES These generally don’t need cutting back and provide valuable nesting material for birds in spring.

✗ ROSES THAT FORM HIPS After flowering, some roses form attractive, glossy, red hips, adding late colour to the garden. These were traditionally made into rose-hip syrup. Hips are also a valuable food source for birds through the winter, giving another reason to value them.

Leave trimming forysthia until after it finishes flowering, in mid- to late spring