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.

Yes, Knock Out. All of the Knock Outs around here (eastern Monmouth county) are full of blooms and look lovely. A mature plant will start blooming in May.

Many spring-flowering bulbs obviously fit the bill, so I'll skip those. AS far as perennials, for early spring foliage and bloom I must recommend Pulmonaria (lungwort). There are various species, of course, but I love those with variegated foliage. And the early flowers are a treat (visually for me and food-wise for early bees)as they turn from blue to pink (or is it the other way round?--no matter--there are always some of each happening at once!). As a sucker for blue-flowering plants, for fall one of my favorites is Plumbago (leadwort), which in my garden began blooming a few weeks ago & is going strong. It would go wonderfully with my yellow fall-blooming crocus located elsewhere in the yard, so I must try to get more & plant them to come up in & among the plumbago. And of course hellebores are a must! I have them blooming sometimes even in February, sometimes under the snow. The foliage is, of course, evergreen, and as it is very sturdy provides nice winter interest. My perennial foxgloves are good too; stay greem a long time and bloom pretty early. Then there is "mystery [or "surprise"] lily"--aka "Naked Ladies" -- Lycoris squamigera. The hardy bulbs put out a lot of robust foliage in the spring (like daffodils on steroids - LOL) and then fade away but the real kicker is the way the fat stems (sans foliage!) come shooting up suddenly in mid- to late August and burst into slow pink fireworks for about a week. I love the silly things; they are ubiquitous here in central Ohio and many of the old farm yards (or older small-town homes)have them. Christmas fern is evergreen, though flattened by snow; ostrich fern sends up edible fiddleheads fairly early and is quite dominant in the shade bed till late (it's still going strong). I have a very large white bleeding heart here when we moved in 3 years ago; I noticed that it keeps self-sowing so have transplanted a number of the young-uns around and these sometimes bloom the first year. It lasts a lot longer in the garden than the wild native in the woods but soon yellows and then disappears when summer arrives (the ostrich fern happily stretches its fronds to fill in the empty space). Sweet woodruff is a wonderful ground cover with a wonderful fragrance & delightful little white flowers in May. I much prefer it to various other alien ground covers like Pachysandra terminalis, periwinkle (vinca vine), English ivy, etc. I do have a bit of our native Pachysandra procumbens (Allegheny spurge), but it spreads much more slowly than the others. That's enough--I'll let others jump in! CK

Sorry...I don't have any suggestions...however.... I have to laugh because when I saw the picture, I thought you photographed my lawn! I have the same exact phenomenon....also near my driveway, with the same belgian block...and I am also on Long Island. So, I'm very curious to see what the answer is!!! Alex