Mitch Baker: Hi! Im Mitch Baker with American Plant. Hot, dry conditions of summer really take a toll on our trees, shrubs, and perennials, but now that the whether is turning cooler, its a good time to examine and repair any summer damage.

Take a look at this smaller ornamental tree. Theres some dieback here from the summer heat and dry conditions. So well just go ahead and trim that damage out. Well trim it right close to the trunk, building a little bit of a collar there for healing.

This firm also has some heat stress. You can see where thats caused a good portion of the tip to dieback. Now, because its a perennial, itll be replacing this growth with new growth next year. We dont really need to trim that out now. Any trimming would strictly be cosmetic.

Same thing on this hosta, same kind of heat stress, the yellowing of the leaves, that browny and scorching appearance around the edge, but these are going to be going dormant soon. We dont really need to trim them at this time. Theyll be replacing this growth next spring with new growth.

Now, this Kerria is showing some summer stress, some of these branches have dead back. So well go ahead and trim those out, trim them down to the base at this point. It will help clean it up, improve its appearance for the early spring blossom. So if you repair the summer damage before the whether turns cold, youll have a thriving garden you can enjoy next spring.