I don't like cutting things back too hard in fall, if they stay green or have the good foliage, like grasses. Many of your perrenials will brown up with a couple frosts and regular cold, like peonies and the sedum, salvia, lily stems. Then you can cut them down. I leave some stalk height as markers, my garden is quite thickly planted.

Morning glory is an annual, I would pull it down whenever I got tired of it, green or dried, for neater winter appearance. Cut it off at the ground. Clematis is another climer, but a perennial. I leave alone in fall, mine stay green most of the winter, give birds shelter. They get trimmed in early spring, down to a couple feet tall. Clematis do better if pruned heavily, and I want them cut before the birds return to nest in them. Lovely flowers in many shapes colors. Three types, early, mid, late flowering, to bloom at different times of the season. They might be something you would like too.

I tried leaving my dried sedum for winter interest, just didn't like it in winter so I cut it about halfway thru. Just was ugly.

My grasses were pretty nice over winter, but I cut them back VERY early, late Feb or March to prevent the leaves and mess you mentioned. I think the big grasses need a bit of cover to protect the clump over the coldest times. I wouldn't cut grasses in fall, but that is me.

Lavendar needs to be left alone for winter. You will probably get some die-back anyway, don't want to kill the plant with no branches to spare. You should trim it in spring, just when the new growth is starting, to know what is alive. Bell flower I just cut the flower spikes off, same with Liantris, by which I think you mean for the "roman candle flower". Leaves help me locate them for spring work.

Not sure what goosenecks are, Gooseneck Loostrife? I would cut that down after it dries out when frosted. The other plants I am not recognizing from descriptions. Sage the herb, is tough, will come thru winter, but the woody stems don't need trimming back. I killed mine doing that. Just trim it on the ends, new growth, next spring for neater appearance.

You can save your yard leaves, Oak are the best. Don't EVER burn them. Run the mower thru them to shred them up, use that for mulch over winter. Returns a lot of nutrients to soil, makes a nice mulch and protective layer. I would fertilize in spring, not now because plants would grow better, get winter damaged in cold. If you have extra leaves, you can bag them up for spring use or start a small compost pile for next year. Even just mowing the leaves onto the lawn, is better for the lawn, than wasting the leaves. Like a free fertilizer treatment. Small pieces of leaves don't pack or clot up like full sized leaves. I would not save Black Walnut or Butternut leaves since they contain jugalone, poison for some plants.

I don't think I would do much shrub trimming now. Hollies get wind-burned over winter, dry out in cold wind. The small evergreens might benefit from a little shaping, but not massive trimming so late in season. I would trim and shape both of these in early spring, April. That time would let you remove the winter damages, not be hard on newly awakened plant.

You might want to start a Journal, keep track of stuff for yourself. See what works or doesn't, for YOU, plants you have. My mom loves to have everything tidied up for fall, makes it easier for her in spring. Looks kind of stark to me, in late fall. I have some fall and spring work because I have different plants, different location in the state. Journal can be very simple, some dates, what worked or failed, just a tracking device for your notes. Easier than trying to keep it in your head.

Good luck, sounds like your garden is working well for you.
Kale are great winter plants, along with pansies, love the colder temps. An idea for the bare spots of fall and winter.

Can we see a picture? Please? Your new flower beds sound great!

Kate

Wow, thank you SO much for the great, detailed information! You know, I actually had no idea that the morning glory was an annual - I have a neighbor who has them covering a chain link fence every year, so I just assumed it was a perennial plant.

I forgot to mention I actually DO have clematis on the other trellis (they are those iron columns with the grape vine motif holding up the porch - not very attractive, so I tried covering them with vines). The clematis is still very thin, maybe next year I'll get more foliage and flowers. I do have the roots shaded, as I read they like.

so it sounds like I will be doing the majority of my pruning in the Spring. That's fine - I do like seeing the shapes of the dormant plants, snow-covered or not. They are still sculptural. I didn't know that about the hollies - should I burlap them? One looks almost like a little bonsai tree with bright green roundish small leaves, almost like a boxwood. It's got a short "trunk" about 2-3 inches and it's round above that. I think it may get too large for the space I've planted it, but I was told by the garden center that if I kept it well pruned, I could control the size. We'll see....I have a very small planting area in the front, so finding evergreens to suit the space was kind of difficult.

We don't have a lot of leaves, but I'll save what we collect for mulching. I put down about a 2 inch layer of shredded cedar mulch when I planted during the summer and most of it is intact - would that suffice?

oh, and I do have a few pictures I snapped in early July, about 3/4 of the way through the process, and I tried to get a few more last night because everything has grown in more now, so I'll try to get some photos up in the next couple of days. Oh the performance anxiety, now.... ! :)

I'm actually not sure how to post a pic - the URL link? will that upload the photo from my computer, or do I link to my pics on photobucket?

Thanks again!

Be careful with your clematis! There are different kinds of clematis, and when you prune depends on which "group" yours falls into (they're designated as group 1, 2, or 3). I have a sweet autumn clematis, which blooms in august and gets pruned in February or March. You need to find out which kind you have and do a little bit of research about which group it falls into...easy enough to check on the clematis forum, or through google.

Your "salad herbs" are probably annuals in zone 5. I grow a lot of herbs and the only one that comes back every year is chives - a pretty enough plant, with interesting foliage, but I always plant rosemary, basil and oregano because I like to use them in cooking.

Diane, RE: Fertilizer

Unless you are in one of the areas of Michigan with really sandy soil (where nutrients get leached away by watering)you should not need to ever use fertilizer for most garden perennials, certainly not for sedums, sages, catmints, lavenders or ornamental grasses. Fertilizer will only cause weak floppy plants and quick release fertilizers can add too many salts to the soil.

I use fertilizer only on my clematis and roses, usually in early spring to get them off to a good start or mid-season for rebloom. I normally use a slow release organic fertilizer, but have been known in a weak moment to use a shot of container fertilizer for blooming plants.

Fertilizers are not generally added in the fall because you don't want to encourage growth which will be damaged by cold weather. You can of course add organic matter to established beds and/or prepare new beds for next springs' planting. I usually replenish/rejuvenate the soil in beds that I am reworking with bagged humus and manure as well as whatever homemade compost I may have available.

Astilbes are heavy feeders, so if you are using them, just keep an eye on them and fertilize if they do poorly. Mine, however, don't seem to need any commercial fertilizer in my clay garden soil. You could also perhaps use a sprinkling of Bulbtone or bonemeal for bulbs. Even without fertilizing many spring minor bulbs, daffodils & summer lilies will increase for me, if I can find them a dry enough (well-drained enough) spot in the garden. IME things like heucheras, hostas, daylilies, phlox, black-eyed susans, etc. never need commercial fertilizer.

What you want to do is feed the soil, not the plants, & let nature (worms, bugs and microbes) do the rest. Certainly you can use whatever compost you have (and chopped leaves are very good too) on your plants, but don't waste it on things that like thin soil, which many plants do, such as sedums, lavenders, yarrows.... Nor do you generally have to worry about adding compost to every plant (or garden bed) every year. I sort of go around the yard trying to cover most areas (not including my raised gravel bed which is used for "dry" plants that like poorish soil) over a two or three year cycle. I do, however, topdress woodland/shade type plantings with chopped leaves in the fall (and also add a moderate layer of mulch wherever I find bare soil each spring).

I don't mean to sound preachy, so please forgive, but after many years of gardening I firmly believe that it is better to add less fertilizer rather than too much to our gardens. The individual gardener, of course, has to learn what works best in their particular garden, but generally in my area of Michigan, you don't need to worry much about fertilizer. Things grow just fine without it, maybe a bit slower (maybe not) but healthy and with a wide range of insects, toads, birds & other wildlife - and with far less staking needed. :~))

BTW, I prune only here and there in the fall, just enough to neaten some areas, but leave the rest for the spring. I don't prune anything back that might be even remotely not hardy and especially anything that suffers from winter wet problems, ie anything called "drought tolerant" or has silver colored foliage. I do, however, do a lot of pruning back DURING summer, to neaten the garden & let other later blooming plants shine, as well as for rebloom.

One more thought, in zone 5 many of the lily stalks have not yet turned yellow, even some of my early LA Hybrids are still green, so I do not cut them back. The orientals haven't even started to color yet. I nip them here and there as they turn, but don't make a big deal of it (as in going out in the cold cold weather to cut them).

Leave it all for spring, period.

Why? Looks better in winter after a snow. Collects more snow around plants - better for the plants. Birds feed on the seeds all winter. You probably don't feel like it now anyway!

Exception: Iris - cut them back late fall. The Iris borer hides in the old leaves, and collecting them seems to reduce the infestation next year - so they say - I have only tried it one year so far.