I've always cleaned up/cut down in the fall. For some reason, I waited until spring this season and regretted having to deal with the mess instead of being able to start right in on other things. Cleaning up dead foliage around new spring growth was much more time consuming than just hacking down and discarding in the fall. So, I will not wait for spring again.

I don't need the "winter interest" in leaving the gardens intact. Any interest is generally buried under a few feet of snow.

"Any interest is generally buried under a few feet of snow."

That is so true around here. I like a clean garden in fall going into winter. I also like to get a headstart with composting everything.

I usually leave most things till spring. I do cut back my lily stems, peonies to about 3-4 inches, and anything that was bug infested or disease ridden. Mums usually have a better survival rate if left standing over winter. Cleaning off the beds in spring gives me a reason to be out playing in my garden when it's still to early to be digging and I just Have To Do SOMETHING! I also find it easier to pull off the dead foliage in spring and have never damaged emerging growth. I pull any dead annuals in fall and empty my pots.

Hi,

I clean up lots of perennials in fall, just because Im somewhat of a neat freak. Some perennials I leave for winter interest or seed for birds, like ornamental grasses, Liatris, Astilbe, Sedums. I just like a cleaner look, I usually clean most of the leaves out of the beds too.

Jen

The Fall, for me always have. Tricia

aachenelf - good point about getting a jump start with the following season's compostable materials. I have a small mountain of ingredients ready to go - as soon as I distribute this year's batch.

In zone 7 it's often best to wait till spring to cut back. The remains of the plant sometimes help protect the crown from our freeze/thaw cycles in winter. If you do cut back in fall, maybe you could leave a few inches of stems and lay the cut off top on the ground around the crown. That would look neater than the dead stems flopping all around.

spring, because cut stubble over the winter is boring and depressing.

My main cleanup time is Spring. George, I have almost all the ones you mentioned, and the only ones I cut back in Fall are the phlox. They reseed so bad and mine get pm, so I cut them down. Everything else I leave until Spring. Like Hostaholic, I get antsy in the Spring and I can go out and do the cleanup well before I can plant.

Kat

I like to clean most things up in the fall. (The exceptions are things like buddleia because they're only marginally hardy in zone 5, so I leave them up to help protect from deep freezing).

The reason I like fall cleanup is that I don't like having to pick around the new shoots to try to get at the old stuff and I'm always afraid I'm going to accidentally cut off or nick the new growth. And, I've read (on this forum, actually) that bugs and fungus and bacteria like to overwinter in the shelter of the dead foliage.

So, I usually try to prune down and clean up in the fall.

Spring. The only thing I regularly cut down in the fall in is the Peonies, maybe an odd thing here or there.

I am not a neat freak in the garden and enjoy the look of the dried foliage throughout the winter, it reminds me of a wild area - Nature doesn't cut down her plants in the fall. Not only do I leave most vegetation intact, but I also leave the leaves, pine needles, etc that blow into the garden in place - free mulch! Other people may think it looks messy (my borders are in the front yard), but whatever, they get to enjoy a spectacular garden all summer.

There are many seedheads I leave intact at the end of the seasons and the Goldfinches and other birds like to pick them over throughout the winter. I love it when plants reseed in the garden, one of my favorite things in the Spring is poking around in the soil and mulch to see what has reseeded. I've also heard that beneficial insects like to overwinter in mulch and the dried vegetation.

I have large ornamental grasses and Buddleia and in this Zone these should be cut down in the early Spring. Frankly, by the Spring a lot of the plants are dried up wisps of their former selves, and much of them have blown away. They are easy to clean up.

I prefer to do the bulk of the clean up in the fall, since I think the beds look tidier, plus then it's all done in the spring, when there are so many chores to tackle. The past couple falls, though, I have just not had the time, so left everything until spring. And I learned something - it's easier to clean up in the spring. In the fall, have to actually cut down foliage, but in the spring it's rotted/decaying, so a quick tug does the trick. Much easier and less time consuming.

So, cutting down in fall vs. spring really boils down to an aesthetics issue for me.

Point: Do whatever you want, it really doesn't matter in terms of health of the plants/garden with just a few exceptions of individual plants (such as mums).

It depends on how busy & motivated I am in the Fall. Absolute minimum is removing peony & Phlox paniculata foliage.

Someone mentioned a good point, about diseases. Some plants you should always cut back, those that have diseases and pests that will overwinter in the debris of the plant. Irises, peonies, and monarda (or anything else with powdery mildew) are like that. But most cases it wont have any effect on other plants that donÂt have diseases that overwinter like that.

On the flip side, cutting back in fall has been shown to dramatically decrease some perrenialÂs winter survival rate. Mums and LadyÂs Mantle come to mind, but there are many more.

Some plants you should do one way or the other, but for most plants it is a pure aesthetic decision of what you prefer. I cut early enough in the spring I never have problems with emerging foliage. It is easy to avoid.

I do it in fall because in spring the ground is too soft and want to do minimum damage to new roots. Second it is too cold until end of April.

I usually did it in the fall, except for sedums and those plants that benefit from being left up. Last year I left it until spring, and what a job it was to have to do it all at once! It was too much to compost all at once, and my bins were already full from the fall leaves, so I ended up taking two truckloads of plant material to the town compost station! Yikes!

This year I'm going to clean up the plants as they decline. I can run them over with the mower before putting them in the bins, reducing the volume considerably. I'll leave the sedum, all of the sub-shrubs, and grasses. This is one good reason to include some shrubs and evergreens in your plantings so you have some winter interest. I have boxwood and arborvitae hedges as well other shrubs and small trees to add structure year round.

I am definitely in the Fall camp. For the "tidyness" reason and also because after snowmelt, the ground is very soft and walking in the beds will compact the soil, which is a no-no.

I'm all for spring cleanup. I have a lot of coneflowers, and leaving their seed heads through winter is nice looking and it's nice for the birds, because of the seeds.

I also find that I need the reminder in the spring of what was growing in which place. I have some beds that are kind of jungly (nice word, huh?), with perennials that have self-sown and mixed around the bed. Leaving their foliage till spring reminds me what it was that grew there last year.

Thanks for the response! It's a lot to think about. Since I only have a few beds in my urban garden, I will cut back only those things affected by powdery mildew this fall. I have lost some perennials to a winter after cutting so I will wait until spring for the planst that have not been affected.
Happy Gardening
George

I am in the "yes" camp in answer to this question -- fall or spring, whatever suits your schedule and thevagaries of weather, time availability, etc. I have usually done late winter (not spring...) cleanup, usually about late February. I personally think it is a matter of personal taste and time availability and weather. Though I am not much of a fan of the "dead brown grass winter garden" (apologies to those out there who love it....), I DO think that the mixed or perennial border can be very lovely in November before the snows hit. So I do want to leave the border standing through that month. If December isn't too cold and I have the time I have cut back then. Most of the time not

For me, the best time to cut things back is on that rare day in February when the weather warms up and it might even be sunny. A little taste of spring. Great to work out in the garden. Garden chores almost seem welcome.

Main thing to remember I think is that if you have lots of bulbs in your borders, you want to get the cutback completed before they start to emerge. Not good to tromp on new bulb foliage.

Does anyone know of a list of perennials that should NOT be cut down until spring? I usually leave everything until spring but have decided that this year I am going to cut down everything in the fall except those plants that should be left for spring.

Fall for me except for a few things that I feel might overwinter better being left along, such as mums & grasses. That way in the spring I'm ready to do a final cleanup, work on hardscaping and wintersowing seeds. In the fall as certain plants begin to have ratty foliage, I selectivly start removing them. If things look good they can stay until frost takes them.