Brown leaves - Ask Extension
The winter has been hard on our Nandina, Jasmine and Euonymus. The leaves on the surface are all brown. Should I prune them off? Will the plants co...
Knowledgebase
Brown leaves #925520
Asked March 06, 2026, 10:54 AM EST
The winter has been hard on our Nandina, Jasmine and Euonymus. The leaves on the surface are all brown. Should I prune them off? Will the plants come back? Thank you.
Baltimore County Maryland
Expert Response
Winterburn (the winter leaf damage you're seeing) will be common this year, since the prolonged freezes and ongoing drought have deprived evergreen shrubs and trees of enough moisture to keep their leaves hydrated. Brown leaves will fall off on their own, but can be pruned off if you want. Be sure not to trim the actual branch, however, unless you're certain it too has died, since often there are undamaged dormant leaf buds on the branch that will fill back in later in spring. (While pruning live branches back isn't always a problem, it can remove flower buds for spring-blooming shrubs like azalea and jasmine, and it can set a shrub back in growth if it's a slow grower.)
Nandina is an invasive species, so if you are willing, we recommend removing them and replacing them with other shrubs. It was recently placed on a list of prohibited plants regulated by the MDA, so this year or next will be the last year that nurseries are allowed to sell them. Only a couple cultivars that don't produce any berries are exempted at this point. (The law doesn't require that already-planted Nandina be removed, but it does prohibit them from being bought and planted anew.)
Some Euonymus is regulated as well, but if yours is a shrub and not a climbing vine (the species that's regulated), it should rebound easily, even from drastic pruning if needed, since they are vigorous plants.
How to treat the Jasmine depends on what kind it is. Winter Jasmine will soon be blooming (unless any flower buds were removed due to a late-season pruning last year or winter desiccation damage), so any pruning should wait until later in spring. While it may not hurt the plant to trim back branches now, doing so would remove flowers that cannot be replaced for this year's bloom cycle. Other Jasmine (and the unrelated Jessamine vine, which due to its similar name, is sometimes confused with Jasmine) plants may or may not be trimmable now depending on when they flower.
If you want, it won't hurt to wait until later in spring to assess what needs to be pruned. By then, it will be easier to tell if any branch wood has died (or only foliage), and therefore where to trim. You are welcome to share photos of the plants at any point if you'd like feedback on how much to cut back. The natural shedding of damaged or dead leaves might not begin until April or even May, but typically plants "self-clean" such leaves on their own, at which point they can be left to decay or raked-up and composted.
Miri
Nandina is an invasive species, so if you are willing, we recommend removing them and replacing them with other shrubs. It was recently placed on a list of prohibited plants regulated by the MDA, so this year or next will be the last year that nurseries are allowed to sell them. Only a couple cultivars that don't produce any berries are exempted at this point. (The law doesn't require that already-planted Nandina be removed, but it does prohibit them from being bought and planted anew.)
Some Euonymus is regulated as well, but if yours is a shrub and not a climbing vine (the species that's regulated), it should rebound easily, even from drastic pruning if needed, since they are vigorous plants.
How to treat the Jasmine depends on what kind it is. Winter Jasmine will soon be blooming (unless any flower buds were removed due to a late-season pruning last year or winter desiccation damage), so any pruning should wait until later in spring. While it may not hurt the plant to trim back branches now, doing so would remove flowers that cannot be replaced for this year's bloom cycle. Other Jasmine (and the unrelated Jessamine vine, which due to its similar name, is sometimes confused with Jasmine) plants may or may not be trimmable now depending on when they flower.
If you want, it won't hurt to wait until later in spring to assess what needs to be pruned. By then, it will be easier to tell if any branch wood has died (or only foliage), and therefore where to trim. You are welcome to share photos of the plants at any point if you'd like feedback on how much to cut back. The natural shedding of damaged or dead leaves might not begin until April or even May, but typically plants "self-clean" such leaves on their own, at which point they can be left to decay or raked-up and composted.
Miri
