I pruned all the trees in late summer or Fall depending on the kind of tree. I usually start with the roses anytime from now on, then move on to the hardwood Salvias. I leave the S. Leucanthas until the last late in Feb. because the crown growth is so tender and all the tops seem to protect them. I kind of go by what Mother Nature is sending our way... we had a lot of cold early-on, but now it's warmed up. I'll watch what January has to bring. If it stays warmer I'll prune earlier.

I do a lot of clean-up tasks right now, like pulling off all the dead leaves from the irises and daylilies, etc.

Depends on what you mean by clean up. I've been doing "clean-up" all fall and will continue until around March.
For me, clean-up means raking leaves, cutting back dormant perennials as they go dormant, pruning shrubs/trees that need winter pruning, cleaning off browned leaves, general tidying, and pulling weeds as they come up with each rain storm. I'll be stripping the roses in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully get all my homeless plants planted.
I usually don't prune back any "iffy" or frost sensitive plants until late Feb./early March, and group 2 and 3 Clematis get pruned in early Feb. because they'll be leafing out by the end of Feb.
The AHS Encyclopedia has a great pruning reference of how, what and when in the front, and each plant entry has a listed pruning group that corresponds with a number from 1-25(I think).

One thing I've found is that when many books say to "prune in spring" you need to remember that our spring is not the same as the rest of the country and we often need to start a little earlier.

wanda

I'm in Sunset zone 17, 25 miles east from SF, so we get a few more 'near-frost' days than the City but it's still very temperate (in the summer we're at the edge of the fog belt). This winter with the wild swings from warm moist rains to dry cold spells, the leaves have barely fallen off the liquidambers yet the magnolia trees are already in full bloom in most places -- normally they flower in mid-January.

Last week I just cleaned up the yellowing leaves off the clumping daylilies, only to discover vigorous new growth already pushing up. The ranunculus and freesias have already started putting out lots of growth and they will bloom in another month unless we get a big January chill.

The weekend after Thanksgiving was perfect gardening weather -- dry and in the low 60's. I got a head start then on pruning, weeding and planting some container plants I had been holding for the start of the rainy season.

With a cottage style garden, I have so many different kinds of plants, cleanup is pretty much year-round. But I figure that's the price of having a garden that stays evergreen and flowers all year-round, too, so it evens out. The REALLY important thing is to remember that this is Sluggo time -- those snails are multiplying even as we type, lol!!!

It is cleanup time here anytime it is not raining. My tulips are coming up fast under the roses so I pruned roses yesterday, very early for me but I want to lime sulfer the roses before too much tulip foliage appears. The peony beds are all cleaned up and composted with about 10 new peonies added from gallon pots started from bareroots last spring. Fruit tree pruning is underway as time permits. The picture of the gardener resting in the winter is a distortion of the facts! Al

Thanks everyone. I was afraid I didn't post my question very well since I was in a big hurry. :-/

By "clean-up" I really meant the early spring / late winter pruning. I'm always afraid of doing it too early and then a frost hits, so I tend to wait too late and then everything is still small and not blooming by late spring! Or, I skip it altogether and everything is already overgrown by late spring.

This year I will start now and finish earlier and see what happens.

Wanda -- thanks for pointing me to the AHS Encyclopedia. I have that book somewhere.... I will look it up.

Jen

I try to get everything cut back before the rains hit in earnest, cause I HATE being cold and wet while out there with clippers. I still have to go out and rake the neighbor's leaves off everything to keep stuff from smothering and rotting underneath, leaf fall usually goes hand in hand with the rain. Raking up (and hand picking up) muddy, slimy leaves off the ground is probably my LEAST favorite jobs, but it's got to be done as soon as possible. Now if it would only stop RAINING, so I could get to work!

I link to Roger's Gardens and use their calendar for determining what to do when.

Here is a link that might be useful: December Calendar

I have a large bed of Ranunculus planted under a Chitalpa tree that dropped a ton of leaves in the past week. I was as careful as possible raking the slimy mess and was pleased to see a high percentage of the Ranunculus already up dispite the leaves. Al