Anybody with a green thumb maybe you could help me out with a few question.s, First I have several varietys of

ornamental grass's should I cut them back so they'll gro again?And how low should I cut them down?Also the same with butterfly bushes. One more thing I also planted differ.kinds of Canna Lilys,but know I'm told I should have dug up the bulbs before it frosted,any chance they'll grow again?Thanks alot

Anybody with a green thumb maybe you could help me out with a few question.s, First I have several varietys of
What kind of ornamental grasses do you have? It will depend on how much you should cut them back. But yes, you should cut them back every year. If you have a taller variety of grass, I'd say cut back to about 8 inches. If you have a shorter, smaller variety of grass, cut back to about 4-5 inches.



The butterfly bush needs to be cut back as well. You can do this in the fall or the spring. It doesn't really matter. I tend to prune most everything back in the fall. Butterfly bushes have no problem starting from the root up every year so you can easily trim them down to just a few inches. And as the previous poster said, don't worry about it not waking up. They are late bloomers! I was so worried about mine the first year because it didn't wake up until nearly June. But then, sure enough, there it was and by the end of the summer it was probably 6 feet tall.



Your bulbs may be hit or miss. How cold does it get where you are at? Generally, if it gets below -10° C in your area in the winter, you're at risk of losing your bulbs. If your winters got on or around that, give them some time, they might surprise you and wake up.
Reply:I live in zone 6. We just cut our ornamental grass down to 8-10". We have Miscanthus Grass. It will grow anyway but this way you make way for the new stuff to grow without looking and last years dead growth in the process. Butterfly bushes often die to the ground on their own, especially in a colder area. We moved ours closer to the house and for the last two years they didn't die back at all. I just cut mine back to about a foot off the ground. I did this last year as well. It helps control the size and they produce more flowers. Even if it were to die back to the ground, as long as the roots are still alive, it will grow a good 5-6 feet tall or more by mid summer. They break dormancy late compared to a lot of other things and I have often been fooled into thinking that mine were dead. But they grew back true to form every year for 6 years now. I'm not sure about the Lily's but I was under the impression that these needed a warm climate to grow, like zone 8. While you can grow them in the summer, they probably should have been dug up and stored for winter. I doubt that they will grow back. Hope this helps!!!! :)