Your plants have only been in the ground in your garden since last fall; a year is a recommended average for them to settle in - do they really need pruning already? This is only March and zone 5 can still get a late freeze any time through April. I wouldn't be too anxious to be pruning away on new plants; give them some time to mature a little. Can't speak for the KO roses - generally any obviously dead or winter damaged canes can be removed in the spring. Sweetspire blooms on old wood, so pruning after flowering is recommended. Ninebark at only 4'x4 can be left alone. As the plant matures, renewal pruning will be needed. This is done in early spring, by removing the largest, heaviest canes all the way to the ground. One to five branches can be removed each year, depending on the size of the plant. If a reduction in the plants overall height is needed, it should be done in combination with renewal pruning. Junipers and yews can be pruned when the new growth shows - it'll be a lighter green than the rest of the plant. Hopefully you don't plan on shearing them into meatball shapes and will let them grow naturally by carefully pruning out only wayward growth. Miss Kim lilac - if you get blooms this year, pick the blooms for an inside arrangement - that's all the pruning that'll need. Clematis - without knowing the type, it would be hard to advise. There are Type 1: small flowered, early spring blooming and the vines should be pruned after the last flowers drop. Prune lightly, removing only weakened or dead stems and never cut back more than a third of the stems. Type 2: Large flowers in spring and mid summer and will bloom on both old and new wood. Prune in early spring removing all weak and dead stems, then snip back any remaining stems just above the large, swollen buds you find looking at the stems from the top down. Type 3 : bloom on current season's growth mid summer to mid fall. This type should be cut back severely in late winter or very early spring. If you really can't tell what's going on with Type 3, lop off each vine to 2 feet above the soil line. Ornamental grasses can be given a haircut to clean them up and remove the old seed plumes. They would probably need dividing only every 3 or 4 years.

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.

I have a couple of roses that I do a "snow tip pruning" on every year because they have stiff canes and if we have a heavy snow are liable to breakage from the weight of the snow. The goal is to remove as little plant material as possible, but also to open up the canopy so that it doesn't catch a lot of snow and cause breakage. In a way, you could call it "lacing" the top of the rose. We had an early snow this year and I hadn't done my snow tip pruning and one plant was bent over to where the top of the plant was almost touching the ground. I went out and shook the snow off at 10 pm and hoped we would not have more snow that night. The next day I did the very light snow tip pruning and I doubt if I will have any problems with breakage. I never take the rose down to where I would prune it in spring. I'd just rather decide how far down to prune it than to allow nature decide for me. Watching for when the forsythias bloom is a great rule of thumb. Growing roses in my area is complicated by microclimates and I've found that the forsythias bloom across town at least two weeks before my forsythia blooms. So, I wait for mine to show color before I do my real pruning. Smiles, Lyn

First, on the birch and bradford pear. The Bradford was way overused and is prone to real splitting problems after about 15 years or so. Do prune the heck out of it by taking out limbs/branches all the way up the tree so that you are "thinning" the tree. On the birch, it really depends on what kind it is, most likely River Birch and usually needs trimming to avoid mess from breakage. Second, what everyone else said on the azaleas. Prune after flowering in the Spring. On the tree selections, I'd second the Yoshino recommendation and I'm shopping for something around 3" caliper right now. Now is the absolute perfect time to plant trees in Atlanta. Far better than Springtime. If you go for a dogwood, consider the tried and true Cherokee Princess. A non-flowering tree worth considering is the Lace Bark Elm. It's not big like the Elms of times past, and it's got very interesting exfoliating bark. Whatever you get, remember that what kills most plants/trees here in Atlanta is not the sun. It is lack of drainage in our clay soil. Do not plant anything deeper than it was in the nursery, and I plant everything more shallow than it was, always the root ball a little above ground and then mound your soil mixture around it in a saucer shape to catch the water but let it drain.