Which months are the latest times to trim your bushes in the Midwest?

Hello there, Late summer if you only clip once!

You know, "the Midwest" covers an awful lot of ground - and gardening zones! It would be helpful if you could come up with a more specific location. That being said, as a general rule you can trim bushes in late winter (January/February/March, depending on YOUR zone). You can also trim bushes in late fall. The key here is 'late', because what you want your bushes to be doing is putting all of their energy into strengthening their root system before winter and not trying to regrow branches. I'm sure if you give us a clearer idea of your location, we can give better advice, specific to your location. Good luck!

I am on the East Coast and am probably doing it wrong, but I used to trim up until the middle of December. In MD, we can get below freezing (with snow) or temps in the 70's on Christmas Day.

I live in MI and we try to trim by Mid October to beat the first frost. Barely made it this year. :)