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.

Sorry for the delay in replying but I just came back to the post. I checked the box to have the replies sent to me but they never arrived. Here is a list of legal roses that I will have cuttings to trade: Old Garden Roses Aimee Vibert Scandens (1828)Climber 9-15ft.; White Noisette; Repeats; Musk fragrance Duchesse de Brabant (1857)Tea; Lt. Pink Cupped Double; Repeats; Strong Tea fragrance Felicite et Perpetue (1827)Rambler 15-20ft.; White/Pink; Blooms once; Mild fragrance Hybrid Tea & Others Bewitched (1967) Hybrid Tea, Bright Pink, Damask fragrance Brandy (1982) Hybrid Tea, Apricot, Mild Sweet Tea fragrance Brass Band (1993) Floribunda; Tree, Apricot Orange, Mild Damask fragrance Double Delight (1977) Hybrid Tea, Dk. Pink/Cream, Strong Spicy fragrance French Lace (1982) Floribunda, Pinkish White, Mild Spicy fragrance Heirloom (1972) Hybrid Tea, Lilac, Strong fragrance JFK (1965) Hybrid Tea, White, Strong fragrance Joseph's coat (1969) Floribunda Climber, Red/Orange blend Moderate, fruity fragrance Mister Lincoln (1964) Hybrid Tea, Deep Red, Strong fragrance Oranges & Lemons (1994) Floribunda Hybrid Tea, Orange & orange blend striped blooms; Mild fragrance Paradise (1978)Hybrid Tea, Purple & Pink bi-color, Strong Rose fragrance Snowfire (1970) Hybrid Tea, White reverse, red top, Mild fragrance - FEW CUTTINGS Sterling Silver (1957) Hybrid Tea, Lilac, Strong Citrus Sweet fragrance -FEW CUTTINGS Sundowner (1978) Apricot, Grandiflora, Strong fragrance Tropicana (1960) Hybrid Tea, Coral Orange, Strong Fruity fragrance Got the information from HMF. Anyone interested? Clare

The different varieties I grow bloom and leaf out at different times and the interval between the last blossom and the new leaf is equally variable. Almost all of them have a very few blossoms left now, but only Alphandii has started leafing out. If your plant bloomed well, I would not be concerned. Different weather patterns seem to affect the plants differently, too. We had an exceptionally mild winter this year, and omoi-no-mama bloomed at Christmas, 2 months ahead of what it did last year! But the others were ahead of schedule only by one month or so; and momozono, which last winter started blooming on 2 January, this year, despite the milder winter, bloomed only in February. So I have personally given up expecting patterns and regularities!

It's a nice tree. The only problem I see would be that pruning might be tough and eventually it might shade out the roses. Not really a fan of people who advocate to chop down healthy trees. But It's up too you but with or without the tree you are probably still going to have trouble with pests or diseases since it's all roses and once one gets ill it's easier for it to spread rose to rose to rose. And you will still get aphids and japanese beetles...they LOVE roses. If you do decide to get rid of the tree, it's not very big so think about posting an ad that if someone wants your ornamental tree they can come by and dig it up and give it a new home, plenty of people do this in my town and plenty of people have nothing against a free larger tree for their yard than what they get at a local box store. Also I would suggest if you are removing it, replace it with a tree or something that is not related to roses (no rose tree). Diversity is important for a garden, if something happens to your roses it likely won't spread to an unrelated tree but will to another rose bush. It's easier to replace a sick/dying rose bush than it is to lose an established tree that takes a long time to reach its full beauty.