Some garden jobs can wait, but other tasks done now can mean less stress in the spring.

For example, don’t let your lavenders go through winter without shearing them back. Yes, you can wait until early spring, but they’ll look a lot better with a decent hair cut. Trust me on this.

Russian sage is not a sage, though it likes sun and well-drained soil like garden sages do.

These plants have wonderful bright blue flowers and look best when they’ve got an upright form. You can leave them alone through the winter and their white stems will add interest to the garden Then cut them back after their new growth revs up in the spring.

However, I’ve seen a lot of splayed ones lately that spread out and sprawl drunkenly across their flowerbed neighbors in an awkward and rude way. This will not add interest to the garden, just chaos. You can cut these back now, but not right to the ground. Leave a few inches of stem. See if they’re more upright next year. If not, thin out the number of stems to just the thickest ones.

If you can’t stand looking at the dried-out and frayed flowers on your hydrangea,  go out and cut off only the flower heads, otherwise wait until spring to see which stems have died off and which are keepers before you cut. This will save you a lot of time.

Hydrangeas bloom on the previous year’s growth, and if you cut them way back, they may not flower next season. That being said, you can cut them back drastically any time of the year if you need to bring them down a notch. Just know you’ve cut off the next season’s flower buds.

If you don’t want a million more columbine in your beds, cut off the spent flower stems before the seed heads have matured.

You’ll know if one has already matured if it’s open at the top and sounds like a tiny maraca when you give it a gentle shake. Just don’t shake it too hard or you’ll do the wind’s work for it.

I prefer letting my daylilies die back to a grey, mushy mess and then pulling them up in the winter in a single gloppy handful. The same with my crocosmia. But if you like things neat — also less disgusting! — cut them back to the ground once there’s a lot of pale yellow or brown showing instead of bright green leaves. The leaves need to photosynthesize to help feed the roots and corms of many plants for over-wintering and blooming again in the spring or summer, so don’t go crazy and cut them back too soon.

The same goes for iris. Most of them can stand to be cut back now. Just cut up one side of a fan of leaves and then down the other side in a chevron.

I’ve always just hacked away at them, but a fellow Master Gardener with an amazing garden showed me how much tidier and sharp the beds look by using this little trick.

I never worry about damaging iris because I’m convinced they’re stronger than any of us.

Don’t believe me? Try digging some up.