peony.. chop

hosta.. after hard freeze.. remove gelatinous pile of goo.. as slug eggs are usually hiding in it ... DO NOT CUT THE PLANTS ... there are potential virus issues ...

rose campion.. is biennial ... some will be dead.. just pull those out.. those that still look like they will survive to next year.. cut off flower stalks ..

sedum.. to the ground late fall.. they do linger late into the season .. almost like a kale ... if you happen to break one off with a small cabbage attached.. plant it.. it will live ...

there is a clematis forum.. if you want to go more in depth.. but i dont know how active it is ...

some peeps .. perhaps the lazy ones.. call anything left in late fall .. WINTER INTEREST.. lol ... THATS ME!!! ... do what you can do .. and whatever is left .. see above.. lol ...

when iN doubt.. leave it.. and note what difference there is in spring..

if you have more than one of each.. cut one down.. leave one.. take notes.. compare in spring ...

oh.. hydrangea. .. i would leave to cut in spring.. jUSt to see how mean mother nature is to it ... most often it dies to snow cover ... but in spring should be reduced to 2 or 3 low buds ..in MI ...

i dont know clem's .. but if a monster needs to be taught a lesson.. but you cant ID it ... the trick would be to go in.. and remove the largest one third vines ... to start a rejuvenation process .. opening the plant.. encouraging new growth.. and trying to tame it a bit ... the worst thing you can do.. is reduce flowering next year ... you will not kill an established plant thru pruning.. and it sounds like this thing needs to be taught a lesson .. so go to it ...

pix if you want more specificity ..

have no fear .. just do whatever you can.. and do the rest in spring...

ken

You didn't mention mums (if you grow them), but if you do, don't cut them back. Leaving all the foliage to catch fallen leaves and whatever really improves their chances of overwintering without problems. Since I started doing this, I haven't lost a single one even during winters with little snow cover.

However, if you leave all the spent flowers in place, be prepared for mum seedlings next year. That isn't a bad thing unless you don't like volunteers of unknown parentage infiltrating your mum plantings. Mum seedlings usually don't bloom the same color as their parents.

Kevin

Hi there,
chopping off everything before the winter is kind of old school gardening. As long as perennials stay upright (or if they dont and you are not bothered by it) you can leave almost everything till spring. OK, not too long,you should clear/prune stuff before it starts growing.
A benefit mentioned already is protection in winter. Another is providing for wildlife: insects, toads, birds etc.
Deadheading might be a good idea with easy spreading species.
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And of course, if fungus is a problem you need to prune, Helleborus-hybrids, Peonies (any others?)
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Exception could be stuff/species that are sensitive to moisture like alpines or perhaps Lychnis. With those you should just check that they are not smothered by fallen leaves, other plants that tipped over.
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As for controlling size: if you prune them in mid season, like June-July, some perennials stay more compact and dont sprawl so bad.
Rejuvenating is done by dividing, not pruning.

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Not sure about your winters, if they are mean or hard or whatever, I would prune the Clematis only kind of half way and do the other part after the frost.
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If you just start gardening, taking notes can be useful to identify the reason for success or failure sometimes.
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Well then, I hope you just stick with it and have some fun moments,

bye, Lin

I cut all herbaceous perennials down to ground level and remove all dead stalks and leaves from other perennials and from the surface of the soil. We normally have continuous snow cover till spring (excellent winter protection).

I'm a firm believer in garden hygiene. In the wild, dead plant material is recycled and nutrients reenter the soil. In the very artificial environment of a garden, leaving dead and decaying plant material around promotes the survival of various diseases and pests of garden plants. I'm not saying, of course, that the soil doesn't warrant continual enrichment by other means.

As mentioned above and elsewhere, there are other consideration, such as retaining stems and seed pods for winter interest and retaining last year's stems to provide support for next year's growing stems.

Personally I find, especially in a small garden, that it's better to have finally cleared perennial beds, here, by mid/late October.

Another major concern, for me, is being able to see the low earlier spring bulbs (snowdrops, species and hybrid crocuses, hybrid chionodoxa), when they bloom, and the low earlier spring perennials like, primulas and lungbanes.

In our location and conditions, this has worked for my maintenance of a dozen or so individual perennial beds over ten to fifteen years.

I also think it is old-school gardening to cut everything back in fall. Some perennials, like Monarda, should be cut back to prevent disease, but many do not. Leaving perennials be provides food for birds and butterflies (which pupate on dormant perennials). Many perennials (wildflowers in particular) do not decay and get messy during the winter. I do believe in removing decaying leaves and flowers and other nasty stuff that could harbor pests and disease. Tender perennials definitely need to be left up to ensure the best chance of survival. Mums have drastically higher overwintering rates when left alone.

This is all personal preference for the most part; there isn't a right or wrong. Some cut everything in winter and do fine. Some don't touch anything and do fine. According to Tracy DiSabato-Aust, you should do your cutting down after several hard frosts or you risk the plants putting on new growth from carbohydrate reserves intended for Spring and then losing the plant altogether when the hard freeze finally hits. She also suggests cutting plants down to 2-3" from the ground but no lower or you risk crown damage. Her book, The Well-Tended Perennial Garden is an excellent investment for information about all of your pruning questions. She even lists plants that she prunes for the winter and those she does not.

*Butterflies don't eat the dormant perennials; but use them for protection when overwintering.

To emphasize "personal preference for the most part":

There is a spectacular, well known, 3/4 acre garden in our town, called Merlin's Hollow. It was designed and built by David Tomlinson, a life-long, hands-on, gardener, landscape architect and city planner. It is maintained by David and spouse, Dierdre.

Annually, in fall, David spreads 2 inches of wet maple leaves on the herbaceous perennial beds to enrich the soil. In takes the earthworm population about seven years to finally complete the job. David is just left to pull out maple seedlings and use some environmentally safe way of controlling the number of meadow mice (who love crocus bulbs).

The alpine part of the garden is scree and fallen leaves are removed from that area each fall.

David emphasizes efficiency in maintaing a spectacular garden which has received thousands of visitors on open days.

Just to add, apart from a few hardy annuals at the entrance, Merlin's Hollow is all perennial plants (approximately 2000 different perennials).

Sunnyborders wrote: We normally have continuous snow cover till spring (excellent winter protection).

'Sunny', at one time this was the case for my zone 5 location but now a good snow cover seems to the exception rather than the norm.

We are likely a bit north of you (and on Oak Ridges Moraine), Rouge, but you raise an interesting point.

David Tomlinson, in his courses, emphasizes that perennial gardeners are always learning. A changing climate: just something else to learn to adapt to.
But in terms of the foibles of different and individual perennial plants, no mean task!

We have Sweet Autumn Clematis and we always cut it back to about 1 1/2 to 2 feet. It grows back every year with a crazy amount of flowers, but it was well established already when we bought the house. It gets very messy looking during the winter, I'm talking brown, yucky, mildewy mess...so we always make sure to cut it back. I'm not sure what Clematis you have, or how old it is, so you may want to ask around before chopping on it.

Speaking of "chopping on it" (clematis), just yesterday I made the decision to remove my 3 year old "Summer Snow" clematis. There is no doubt it has its place in the right setting i.e. a farm ;) but it requires way too much space for a residential garden. I did my best to dig out the roots but for sure I did not get them all....but hopefully I got enough so it won't grow back.

My husband tried to remove our clematis once...I think he got tired of cutting it back every year. He tried digging the roots up, put down lots of "weed killer" of some sort. Don't you know it came back the very next year?!? Lol. My mom is supposed to come and attempt to remove the roots before it gets cold so she can plant them in her backyard(she's planning on using it as privacy for a pool), but I'm almost certain she will leave some behind and we'll never be completely rid of it. It's a pain to cut back(even make me sick last year, too much mildew or something), but so beautiful when it flowers.

You can cut all your clematis back after the first hard freeze (not just a frost or two) without problems if they are currently unkempt and messy. On the normally spring blooming ones it will delay flowering until a bit later than usual. On the ones that normally bloom later in the season on new wood, they should be pruned back every year to just a couple of sets of buds regardless of how they look since it keeps the blossoms from only happening at the top of the plant.

Next summer if you take photos that include the blossoms and leaves and keep track of the time each is blooming and post the photos and info to the clematis forum, you may well get names for some of them. Knowing the time of year each is blooming will help determine how they should be pruned.