I tried something new this year with excellenbt results...I have been cutting off foliage of perennials (and annuals as I get around to it) and running over it with the lawnmower. It is yielding me a lot of nice material for my compost pile. As an aside, if you put your garden remains in the trash, do you know where YOUR trash goes and what happens to it after it leaves your property? You should, so you can do the best and most educated job you can of clearing your garden. In many communities, the garden waste goes to a landfill, which is considered a no no. Not because it's toxic, but because it is wasteful of the landfill space. Some communities recycle waste and sell the compost, usually through a third party. Garden waste which is treated like this should all break down within 12 months, but they have equipment that helps it along. In stil other communities, the waste is burned, then the heat exchanged and sold as power. For these people, wet leaves and garden waste are the no no because it takes a whole lot more fuel to burn wet stuff as opposed to dry stuff. One of the best things you can do is find out what happens to your waste. It will make a difference on how you dispose of unwanted things. Might also help you make more informed choices when purchasing, too. Lime

Yes, Ken. I didn't used to clean much of anything until spring when I was in OH. There's not really a time when there's nothing going on here, and totally agree, the lack of snow makes visibly ugly spots much more, well, ugly. Rhizo, don't you compost your annuals anyway? Do you have a reliably hot pile? If not, I wouldn't think it would make much difference where they rot, in regard to killing bugs/pathogens, especially if none were in evidence on the plants when frost took them. Is there something else I should know? Rosie, I don't know if diluting is as much of an issue as getting a quantity of responses to such a "buried" question. Nothing wrong with a new discussion! Most of the leaves in this yard are some kind of oak and when mixed with grass in the mower bag, they are well decomposed in a few months. The first year I "leafed" the beds, the leaves did take longer to decompose, but the past couple years have been remarkably different, as if whatever chemical reaction or microscopic critters that decompose oak leaves are now in those areas in much higher numbers or concentrations. The increase in organic matter in the soil in general seems to help keep everything more moist, or more accurately, to take longer to dry out. I also filled a washtub with nothing but leaves/grass from the mower last fall and it's my best one this year (there are 3, all with a mix of Coleus, Persian shield, Perilla.)

It is true. The gallardia is toast and needs to be tossed. Your soil appears to be compacted and gallardia needs freely draining soil. This means loose soil with tiny air pockets. If there is a Lowe's near you they sell bagged soil conditioner for less than $4. This is what most compacted soil needs as it contains small pieces of pine bark that keeps the soil from packing down again. It gets mixed into the top 6 inches of the soil after you have turned and loosened it with the garden fork or with a shovel. It is likely that tha water you gave it was more than it needed, but not lossening the soil was probably the biggest problem. A free soil test from your county agrigcultural agent would be a great place to start with any amendments that you may need. If I don't have a soil test and can't wait for one, I just use soil conditioner, a little lime, and bagged dry cow compost in small amounts dug thoroughly into the soil. You may not need lime if your soil is not acidic. I never fertilize new transplants. It is best to let them begin to grow slowly into their new soil. Most of us have made the same mistakes as you and learned from our mistakes. Thats why this forum is so helpful. Once you get the area dug and replanted, be sure to mulch, with shredded pine bark mulch if it is available. This mulch will break down and improve your soil also.

Not meaning to offend, but after reading these posts, it sounds like some of you are thinking that a normal winter dormancy in some of the plants are "freeze damage". I think Eureka mentioned how bad the daylillies look. True, some are evergreen, but even those can suffer leaf damage in freezing temps, but more are deciduous and do die back in winter, but the roots don't freeze so they aren't killed and will come back again with spring warm temps. Those things even survive in the midwest and colder zones. I think we're all spoiled by having such a long growing season and having so many evergreen plants in our gardens, that when the cold knocks them into dormancy, we often think they're dead from freeze. Often, this is not the case. They may look terrible, but leave them be until spring and you'll be surprised at what pops right back. True, many of us do push our zonal limits, and some plants, esp. the more sensitive tropicals, might not survive, esp. if they aren't established. Even then, in a milder climate zone like the SF Bay Area, many of those will come back again from the roots. A few examples... In the freeze of 1998, (19F for over a week...my pond even stayed frozen!) my 15 yr. old lemon turned black and defoliated, but as soon as it warmed up, here came new foliage. Hibiscus will go deciduous, but comes back again. Bananas often turn black, but push out new growth in spring/early summer. Personally, I'm a zone pusher, but I usually try to plant the really sensitive things close to the house, under eaves or evergreen trees or surround them with hardier plantings that offer a bit of protection or warmer microclimate. So, that's just my 2 cents worth. I think people worry too much and think plants are "frosted" that are just going into normal dormancy or think sensitive plants are "dead" when they're just experiencing temps too cold to keep their foliage. wanda