Any good gardener knows that fall is just as important as spring when it comes to taking care of your plants and flowers. From preparing your grass for winter to pruning shrubs, there are a multitude of tasks that will help ensure a vibrant garden come next year.

When you get the shears out, however, don't go overboard and start cutting everything back. In fact, there are certain plants that should never be cut back in fall, according to the gardening experts at Better Homes & Gardens. Here are just a few of the plants that should be left alone in fall:

Rhododendrons and azaleas. These two flowering shrubs are part of the same family, so their pruning needs are similar. Since both create blooms on old wood, cutting them back in the fall will accidentally remove their flower buds, which means no blooms come spring. So instead of fall, prune azaleas and rhododendrons in late spring to early summer. The best time to do so is within three weeks after they're done flowering.

Lilacs. While lilacs can become unruly, growing to over 30-feet tall if not pruned regularly, don't take on this task in the fall. Like rhododendrons and azaleas, lilacs put forth new blooms on old wood, so you could unwittingly cut off next year's blooms if you cut them back in fall. Prune lilacs in late spring or early summer after they've finished blooming.

Forsythias. Yet another flowering shrub that propagates new blooms on old wood, forsythias should also not be cut back in the fall. To keep these sunny yellow harbingers of spring healthy and in full bloom, prune them in spring after flowers have faded. Experts advise not cutting back more than one-third of the branches at once.

Coneflowers. These vibrant purple daisy-like plants are also known as echinacea. While they might look a bit unsightly as they die out in the fall, resist the temptation to cut them back. Coneflower seed heads serve as a critical source of food for birds and other wildlife, and leaving them alone in fall usually leads to a more abundant crop the following year. If you do need to tidy up a bit, cut them back in spring before they start growing for the new season. This also applies to black-eyed Susans as well.

Russian sage. This fragrant plant is beloved by bees and other pollinators, but it is very vulnerable to damage during winter, particularly when it's pruned late in the season. So to make sure it's well protected during winter, generously mulch the plants and delay pruning until late winter or early spring.