Chop and trim in spring

And it’s now time to cut back any remaining dead stems on herbaceous perennials – those that die back to ground level in the winter. I always leave pruning back of the mid to late summer flowering ones – things like rudbeckias, eryngiums and the taller sedums (or hylotelephium as we should call them now) – until spring to provide added frost protection. But now it’s time to clear the decks to make way for the new shoots.

You can also trim back clumps of ornamental grasses in early spring – including the evergreen types which may have turned into a glorified birdsnest! Use secatuers to carefully trim off the old foliage, as close to the ground as possible, but taking care not to cut the new leaves emerging from the base. I try to choose a dry sunny day for this immensely satisfying task.

• 20 of the best ornamental grasses

And last, a job that gives me the greatest pleasure, is taking loppers or a pruning saw to the woody plants which I cut back hard – or coppice – to produce dramatic summer foliage. This can be done on shrubs and trees like cotinus, sambucus, catalpa and paulownia, pruning down all the woody stems close to the ground. This promotes strong, vigorous shoots from low down with massive leaves that’ll give a lush tropical look to my garden by summer.