IT'S as if someone has pushed a large button in the unknown cosmos somewhere, and the result is an invisible transmission straight into our subconscious.

Something in our brains will fizzle and crackle, and we will be drawn up out of our kitchens and studies and off our sofas. We will wrap ourselves up in the usual gear, the old but familiar and comfortable clothes, pull on our green Wellington boots and head out into the garden. We will arm ourselves with shears and secateurs. Then, we will start to cut. We will slash and snip and trim and prune and raze down to the ground. Nothing is going to get in our way, and we won't stop until there is not a stem, dangling branch or faded flower left in the garden. No, it's not Stepford Wives in the garden, but the autumn tidy up.

Most of the flowers have finished now and the frost has mashed up anything delicate. The garden is starting to look tired and many gardeners are already starting to prepare it for the winter hibernation.

I am inundated at the moment by people asking me if it is all right to cut this plant down, or how much do I take off that plant. It is one of those things you either learn as you go along (with one or two educational casualties), you are taught or have to look up in a gardening book.

The main rule of thumb is as follows. If the plant or shrub flowers early in the year (up to May) then cut it back as soon as it has finished. They tend to flower on shoots formed during the rest of the year. The best examples of this are forsythia and clematis montana. Forsythia explodes onto flower from as early as February. Once it has finished, say about late April, cut back any long shoots and clip it into shape. If you leave it till autumn to do your cutting back, you will not do any damage to the shrub, but you will more than likely miss out on any colour next spring.

I have lost track of the amount of people who tell me that their montana has never flowered. The cause is always a late trim given in order to keep the rampant monster in its place. You really do have to give consideration to the speed and size of growth of any plant before you commit it to the ground.

If you do need to reprimand a plant that has outgrown its space, but want to maintain the flowers, the textbook method is to do it in three stages. In the first year take down one third of the growth. The following year take off another third. Next year even it out by cutting back the last third. This way you always have two thirds of the bush in bloom.

Personally, I consider this to be too much of a hassle. I tend to be brutal and do the deed in one go. There will usually be another showy plant nearby to catch your eye, and if not, you have something to look forward to next year. It's a similar dilemma to pulling off a plaster. Do you do it in small steps, which may be less painful, but prolongs the process, or do you rip it off, causing a small but intense burst of pain that gets it over and done with in one go?

Published: 02/11/2002