Spent flowers can provide winter interest. You don’t have to prune them. Tequiero/Shutterstock

The flowering shrubs have been been wonderful all season long, but the summer is approaching its end. The flowers are fading, in some cases turning brown. It may be time to deadhead the shrubs or even do a complete fall pruning.

Those tasks are not required, though. Brown is not necessarily bad. Plants can survive with no pruning at all. My wife Nancy and I leave many of them alone and enjoy the interesting shapes the spent blossoms provide in winter. Also, for most shrubs, it’s better to prune in late winter, just before they enter the major growing seasons – spring and summer. It’s also helpful that you can see see the shrub’s structure because the leaves are gone.

Hydrangeas are an exception. They can stand a bit of trimming in the fall.

Prune big-leaf hydrangeas (botanical name macrophyllla), which includes the ‘Endless Summer’ series, in late summer, about now, cutting back to healthy buds, not just cutting off spent blossoms. If the shrub is outgrowing its space and needs a major pruning, however, wait until winter before removing any old, gray stems. You can prune about a third of the stems close to the ground, but I haven’t yet felt the need to do that type of cutting on ours.

This Paniculata grandiflora is crowding the Atwell house. It could use a trim. Photo by Tom Atwell

Smooth hydrangeas (botanical name arborescens) –  ‘Annabelle’ is the most popular – and panicle hydrangeas, the type your grandmother had and that you find in many cemeteries, bloom on new wood and should be pruned in late winter or spring, if it all. The only time we’ve ever pruned our Paniculata grandiflora was when the branches start pounding the house during windstorms.

If you want to prune your viburnums, do it soon. The pruning must be done at least a month before the first frost in order to prevent cold temperatures from damaging any new growth that is stimulated by the cuttings. Both our witherod and nannyberry viburnums produced fruit this year. I leave the fruit in the garden for winter interest and for feeding wildlife. But if your bushes are crowding out their neighbors, you might want to prune lightly.

Rhododendrons can be pruned anytime before freezing temperatures arrive, either to eliminate problems or if they are overgrowing their space. We recently pruned some rhododendrons that were rubbing against the house and hanging over a stone wall that backs up our perennial border in the back yard. Cut back any rhododendron crowding its neighbors, ideally all the way back to the trunk. If that’s not possible, cut a branch close to where it comes off another branch.

If your bushes have problems, first, remove any drooping branches that touch the ground. These branches let crawling pests such as weevils climb the plant – not good. Once you’ve removed them, you can crawl under the rhododendron and easily locate any dead or crossing branches.

One caveat: if you prune early spring bloomers now, be aware they won’t bloom next spring. But suppose you need to cut the shrubs away from your house because the painter is finally coming or you’re having your windows replaced, you’ll just have to live with that.

It’s still a little early for another type of fall pruning: Cutting plants to bring inside for decoration. One of my favorites is red-twig dogwood, which is attractive both when it has leaves – variegated green and white – and after the leaves have fallen.

Holly, both the Meserve hybrids and the native winterberry, also look festive inside. Though our hybrids are attractive in our shady backyard, we always cut them back in November so we can enjoy their shiny green foliage and red berries for the holidays. The winterberry are deciduous so the red berries really stand out in December.

Whenever you prune, be sure your pruners are clean and sharp. You don’t want to risk bringing disease to the plants you love.

Tom Atwell is a freelance writer gardening in Cape Elizabeth. He can be contacted at: tomatwell@me.com