Prune Sneezeweed In The Fall For A Stronger Plant With Beautiful Branching Blooms

Flowering right up until October, sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) is a beautiful perennial that blooms every autumn, bringing color into the colder months. But when the flowers are spent, there are some things you'll need to do to help sneezeweed look its best, and pruning might be the most important. Sneezeweed is one of the plants you should be pruning in fall to promote healthy, strong growth the following year and help it stay at a sensible size. 

Sneezeweeds can grow up to 5 feet, and although this can look great, they tend to struggle when they get too tall and usually need stalking or other support. Taller types of sneezeweed can also look somewhat ragged with unkempt-looking foliage when they grow too large. By cutting them back to half their size after flowering in the fall, you'll be able to avoid them growing too big and keep your sneezeweed looking its best. Pruning in the fall will also encourage branching, which will lead to healthier, denser foliage and more clumps of blooms. As sneezeweeds are known to suffer from powdery mildew and leaf spot, a fall prune also allows you to remove any diseases or damaged foliage to help the plant concentrate on healthy growth.  

When your sneezeweed flowers have turned, start by removing any dead blooms before beginning the pruning process. Then, take a look for any diseased or damaged leaves and remove them next. If you have powdery mildew on your sneezeweed, make sure you clean and disinfect your gardening tools after you have cut the infected leaves off to avoid re-introducing it to your sneezeweed or spreading the disease to other plants. You should also separate and burn infected leaves instead of putting them into the compost, as this will reduce the spread. 

Once you have deadheaded and removed any diseased foliage, cut your sneezeweed back to half its size. Using clean pruners, cut just above the nodes on each stem, as this will encourage branching. Take off any foliage that is looking worn or untidy. On the contrary, if you feel like your sneezeweed is looking too dense and you want to encourage height, you may wish to thin it out a little by removing some of the plant's stems at ground level. However, take it slowly when doing this and never remove more than a third of the total plant.