I've been cutting back things for a little over a week now. Prior to that the ground was like walking on a waterbed from all the snow melt. I am still trying to stay out of the garden beds while cutting back. I have a few stepping stones placed in some beds to give me a place to stand or squat. It is not easy and I look like I am playing twister trying to stay out of the beds. After a couple of hours of work my first day out I had four big blisters on my pruner hand and a VERY sore hamstring. What I do now is cut off the old dried up growth and break or cut it into smaller pieces and toss it back on the beds to act as mulch. Then I lightly fluff up the mulch, matted leaves, and debris with a rake...hopefully before new growth would be damaged. I'm going to try just doing this for a while and not use any more wood mulch around plants. I hate trying to dig in a bed that has big hard wood chips ground deep into the soil. Next year I may try getting a long handled hedge trimmer to reach in and cut down the old growth. Then use a rake to pull it out to be cut up and tossed back in. I don't try to break up anything super thick or woody and just put that out for yard waste pickup or in a brush pile. The ornamental grass cuttings would just blow off the beds, so I break them up a little and use them to mulch in my fenced off veggie garden along with purchased straw. I'm in northern IL too and I just had my first few crocus blossoms a few days ago. Wish I could remember which variety they are because they are much earlier than the other varieties which just have leaves up. My daffodils are about 3-4" up too. The only perennials I noticed with new growth is some catmint, a few columbines, and one errant hosta shoot. We got a few pansies put out yesterday just for a little early color.

I usually leave everything until the spring, but last spring, I promised myself that I would cut down as much as possible in the fall. I find that I had too much to do in the spring and it all looks so ugly until I get it cleaned up. I am wanting to try for the best, prettiest spring garden that I have had so far. Plants that I have and will leave until spring, are what has already been mentioned. I have lost Buddleia in a year I cut it back in the fall. Perovskia, lavenders, ornamental grasses and anything that is only hardy to my zone 6. I used to leave plants to overwinter for the birds, but I watch the birds all the time and never see them go near the dead perennials after the fall anyway. I don't think we have that much that interests them. I have no experience with cutting back plants that are still green/growing. I did however purchase a Hardy Hibiscus last year from Mahoney's in the fall and they had already cut them all back to ground level in their pots, before a freeze. pm2

This year, I had to move gaura about a month ago and all the top growth died back and it started growing from the base once it established in it's pot. I hope that won't kill them. I was so happy they made it through the winter last year. This year, I am cleaning up as much as I can. We had more foliar problems than usual, after all the rain and cloudy weather in May and June. I just want to throw out all that stuff and start over fresh in the spring. I'm even cutting back all my echinaceas to the ground, which I usually leave up for the birds. I'll just give them extra bird seed. I never cut back the Butterfly bushes and they always come back. Last year, I decided I didn't like the messy look of them during the winter, so I've been deadheading them like crazy and shaping them a little better as I do, so I will be more happy looking at them all winter. I also added more Snow Angel pansies this year, because the one pot I planted last fall came back great this spring. They will probably bloom another month out there and start up again in April. The mums are doing very well again and the asters are just about gone by. I've decided to add more next spring. We leave tree leaves that fall into the beds and keep mowing the lawn until all the leaves are gone and add those to the compost pile. I also put chicken wire pieces over where I have newly planted spring bulbs, because otherwise the squirrels end up digging them up. It worked last year. I plan on tying up an arborvitae and a juniper and that about does it. We keep filling the bird feeders and the bird baths and wait for spring.

Annie, thank you! I just got a great deal at Lowes yesterday on violas and pansies for our church beds. I should have picked up some for me too! On the winter view, my neighbors would never say anything and probably wouldn't care. I just know all those beds can look a little bit like an eyesore in the winter. As it is, my beds catch every piece of trash that blows through the neighborhood. I do put a bird feeder in the front in the winter. I figure that will make it a little more interesting. Lisa