Hi Pam, If the flowers have already gone to seed or still have dried seeds on them, it is perfectly safe to cut them back to the ground. After you cut off the tops, shake out remaining attached seeds into areas you’d like them to come up in next year. This is especially important for any annuals you may have, as they will only return next year from seed.
That said, if you can live with the way it looks, we do not cut down our wildflowers until spring because they are there to give wildlife and pollinators shelter and food for the winter. It’s this wildlife that gives us the flowers and our food and is declining. If you go this route, don’t worry, it does not keep new flowers from emerging in the fall. This is the way of nature.
Hi Pam, If the flowers have already gone to seed or still have dried seeds on them, it is perfectly safe to cut them back to the ground. After you cut off the tops, shake out remaining attached seeds into areas you’d like them to come up in next year. This is especially important for any annuals you may have, as they will only return next year from seed.
That said, if you can live with the way it looks, we do not cut down our wildflowers until spring because they are there to give wildlife and pollinators shelter and food for the winter. It’s this wildlife that gives us the flowers and our food and is declining. If you go this route, don’t worry, it does not keep new flowers from emerging in the fall. This is the way of nature.