Finished pruning? I haven't even started. The snow is almost all gone, so the next time it warms up enough for me to be out there, I'll take the clippers with me. This past week, I pulled dead leaves from about half the iris. That's pretty much an ongoing job from August to May.

The point of keeping dead foliage around is that some plants need it as insulation. Since the brutal winter cold is over, that's less of an issue now. Dead is dead, and the plant won't know if you removed it or not. Sort of like cutting hair.

Anytime is fine actually. I've never lost a plant by taking it down in fall, winter or early spring. Probably the only ones I leave until spring are Butterfly bushes. I like to keep as much height as I can...surprisingly they seem to keep a LOT of green much higher than what happened in Denver. I do seem to have a stronnnng dislike of brown sticks lol. Some you need to do pretty quickly as the new growth is already coming up and it becomes tedious trying NOT to cut the new growth.

LOL - Still deep snow here in NH except under trees. It will be awhile before I can clean up anything!

Cabin fever is getting to me!

I've cut down my grasses, iris, day lillies, old foliage on the hellebores (not quite done with that job), and hacked back a few other things. I leave the lavender, thyme, perovskia, nepeta, caryopteris, coreopsis, and other subshrubs and herbs until they are really showing a bit of growth. I don't touch gaura (my favorite plant!) until there's some good strong new basal growth. The difference this makes in survival rates is amazing.

We're way ahead of you northerners now, but you'll be ahead of us in a few weeks and I'll be singing the late winter blues while you're cavorting in spring weather.

mad gallica....I haven't started either. We have had snow cover in the yard all winter until 2 weeks ago and it's been too cold to work outside for long.

jant....I rarely cut anything back in the fall. I think I would prefer to see everything neat going into the winter and I certainly think I would prefer to have it all done so that in the spring, everything is ready to go, but, I always think the weather will be so crazy, warming, freezing, no snow cover...I lost all my foxgloves the past three years in a row, for instance. But I suppose it had nothing to do with cutting them back. Just overly cautious I guess. Maybe I will try cutting more back next fall and see how it goes. Then I wait too long in the spring half the time and end up having to do just that, tediously try not to cut the new growth. I am always thinking about the late snow and cold that we always get. I am going to try to do it earlier this year.

grow now....DEEP snow? Wow, you must have had a lot over the winter. When do you usually lose your snow cover?

DtD....since you are a zone warmer than I am and two zones warmer than grownow, have you cut back because you are not expecting any further snow or late frosts? Or is that not a concern for you?

I love gaura too and haven't had it winter over for me the few times I tried it. I am planning on trying it again this year.

Why do you say, we are ahead of you, when you are zone 7?

My problem this year, is that I have a ton to move and would like to start as early as I can, so is that when the ground is workable?

Thanks .. :-)
pm2

Regarding Gaura...it's (the white) a z5 hardy plant but not the pink which is more like a 7. Don't know which you guys had.

The thing with Gaura is it's a TX native and therefore VERY intolerant of heavy soils in winter.....like many xeriscape plants it wants a lightly drained, sandy soil..poor soil in fact.

Also I found it to want strong sun even during winter. I had over 5 Gauras in Denver that came back every year for 8 yrs but NOT if they were in too claylike a soil or in shade too much in winter. I'd just spot amend with tons of compost to lighten the soil.

But don't expect the pink to ever come back ....it might even be a z8. (these facts are well hidden lol!)

I'm not going to cut anything down until the bulbs are elbowing their way through the mulch and there's something new to look at.

I don't trust March or April - with no snow cover and strong winds coupled with stronger sunshine, plants can still take a hit. Last year a little Ilex crenata got through the winter fine but was burned in early spring. I think it has to do with the cold roots being unable to replace water lost by transpiration during sunny days. The dead stalks provide some shade and windbreak.

Besides, the birds are still eating from seedheads, and taking cover in the vegetation. Not to mention my essential laziness when it's not balmy and warm outside.

Claire

Unfortunately we still have a lot of snow on the ground. And the days just haven't been warm enough to get things melting quicker. We need some more days in the 50s.

I like to cut perennials back in the fall, as there are so many other spring chores going on for me that it's nice to know I won't have to muck through wet soggy dead leaves on a cold April day. I have a LOT of daylilies and Siberian/Japanese iris, that's a lot of foliage to be cutting. I do leave the foliage if the plant is newly-planted in the fall, esp. if marginally hardy.

I would love to try gaura, but my soil is very rich.

The only stuff I clean up in the fall are the Peonies and some other plants that are mildewy or really scruffy looking. Even so, most of the dead seed heads of the Monarda are still standing out there. I like the winter interest of the "brown sticks" LOL!

I've just started cleaning up a few things here and there in the past few days, before that we had continuous snow cover for three months! I mulched the gardens with a layer of leaves over the winter, and will rake some of those back so that the ground will warm up. Then add shredded leaves/compost later.

I cut down the Snapdragons (although they were still green), and some scruffy looking dead foliage. Still haven't cut down the grasses, although they're falling apart. And won't cut down the Buddleia until it starts to show growth, maybe another month?

Anyway, don't you think the brown sticks look pretty throughout the winter, especially with some snow on them? This picture was take in mid-January -

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Here in central NH we still have over two feet of snow on the ground, and in much of my garden around the house, much more (4 feet) because we had to rake the roof twice to reduce weight, so there is more than double the snow on those areas. Foundation plants have to be perennial or really rugged around here! I'll see how the shrubs have survived when the snow is gone, but so far I don't see much damage. If it turns out there is, they are types that all will come back from hard pruning.

In general, I'm with Claire as far as waiting to cut back - we get a good season of freeze-thaw cycles in spring most years (AKA mud season) where the melting snow is trapped near the surface by deeper frost. This can heave perennials, so I tend to leave mulch and old plant material from last year as insulation to help prevent any thawing until it is warm enough that it will thaw completely in just a few days and reduce the threat of heaving. However, this year, by the time the snow melts, I don't think I will need to worry since it will probably be well into April, and we've had so much snow which arrived so early that most of the ground probably isn't frozen, so no frost heave cycles (except on the roads . . . but that's another story!) Some years I can plant peas the first week of April, but I don't think that this year wil be one of them!

jant...yes, I have tried a number of xeriscape plants and that is always the problem for me, my clay soil. Even lavenders don't like me unless I raise the beds. I have tried to raise a number of my beds. I will keep that in mind with the Gauras. Too bad the pink one is the least hardy..my favorite! I keep on the lookout for plants that actually enjoy my clay soil too. :-)

You bring up a good point Claire and veilchen...I have helpers that don't like the cold weather and waiting until the weather is warm enough for them, is too late to be starting to clean up. [g] Going to try the fall next year for sure!

terrene...what wonderful views you have to look at. LOVE that photo!

Babs....it is amazing to me that you have that much snow there. We are fairly close to that imaginary line where the shorter amounts of snow usually start, so there is a lot of difference between what you get and what I get. Was this winter worse than usual for you though? We have often aimed for St Patrick's Day to plant peas, but not too many years that happens..lol. The ground here has been snow free for at least two weeks now, and although snow is forecast, it is supposed to be flurries. I am sure we will get more before winter is over though.

pm2

pm2 - I said we'd be later than you when it comes to "real spring" because the ocean temperature keeps the Cape pretty cold through April and early May. Makes me nuts, watching the weatherman on tv talking about 60s when it's 45 or 50 here!

Another nice thing about leaving straight species gaura standing over the winter is that it self sows beautifully. I don't know if the seeds need that winter cycle to mature, but I never had seedlings until I started leaving it alone in fall. And yes, I agree, it does require perfect drainage in winter. My most success with it is on a slight hill on the west side of my house, where it cavorts with sedum, lavender, and sunset agastache; they all hate having damp feet.

DtD...well you learn something new every day! lol I have lived in this area all my life and always thought the cape was warmer than me at all times of the year. Who knew?! I can see where it would make you nuts. I wonder if there are any advantages to that, gardenwise? I am just thinking of the cooler springs in Maine and how they can sometimes grow things that it is too warm here for.

What great news about the gaura reseeding. I am planning on changing a corner of my only sun bed to grasses and some airy plants mixed in and those gaura would just fit the bill. Would love it if it reseeded and don't mind leaving them up all winter to do it at all. All that you mention are some favorites of mine. Planning on trying the sunset agastache this year too.

Thanks DtD.. :-)

Hi--Another thing to possibly consider when it comes to cleaning up the garden is that there could be overwintering butterfly and moth pupae, and some caterpillars actually overwinter as caterpillars (in a hibernaculum, usually a rolled up leaf).

As you clean up, you might just want to keep an eye out for these babies.

When I first started butterfly gardening, it took me a year or two to take my time before cleaning the gardens up. I was a very tidy gardener--both fall and spring. Now that I understand the life cycle of butterflies, I'm not so tidy anymore. We do have many butterflies that don't necessarily migrate south for the winter; instead, they ride it out! It's almost unfathomable that they can survive, but they do.