Cath, I grow clovers as a permanent mulch - I have to resow odd patches which get walked on a lot but in general, it stays in place around the fruit bushes. Other green manures (we also call them cover crops) I use are much shorter lived - tares and grazing rye are sown quite late in September and dug in the ground in early spring. Mustard is a really quick cover crop and I turn it in after 6 weeks. The main reason for using these cover crops is the silty sandy soil I garden on tends to leach out nutrients and also, as I grow many vegetables, the soil needs more frequent replenishment than when growing perennials or shrubs. For years, I relied on a good autumn topping of horse but the amylopyrolid/chlopyralid used in many broad leaved herbicides, persists, even after passing through the animal's digestive system. Horses which eat hay from fields where these herbicides are used have been unable to break down the hormones in these herbicides (unlike the old 2,4D for broad leaf weed killing). Consequently, crops sown in soil which has traces of chlopyralid grow with massive distortions, rendering them unusable. The effects persist over several years - only curcubits are relatively unaffected. Until recently, these herbicides were not available for the home gardening market but last year, they started creeping into domestic use - Verdone, for examnple, is now using chlopyralid as the active ingredient. What this means for us gardeners is that not only is horse manure compromised because of the hay they have been fed, the municipal green waste which many of us used as a soil conditioner, is also useless. Knowing the provenance of manure is essential (and unreliable since farmers are not always totally honest). I cannot make enough good compost to replenish the humus and keep the soil structure open and friable so using green manures, as well as leaving annual weeds either on top of the soil or turned under, is my main source of soil amendements (and also leaf mould but that takes ages). Is this an issue in the US? Are broad leaved herbicides using amylopyralid or chlopyralid or are they still based on hormones such as 2,4D - which basically makes plants such as dock, plantain, daisies and other lawn weeds, grow themselves to death.

I've been cutting back things for a little over a week now. Prior to that the ground was like walking on a waterbed from all the snow melt. I am still trying to stay out of the garden beds while cutting back. I have a few stepping stones placed in some beds to give me a place to stand or squat. It is not easy and I look like I am playing twister trying to stay out of the beds. After a couple of hours of work my first day out I had four big blisters on my pruner hand and a VERY sore hamstring. What I do now is cut off the old dried up growth and break or cut it into smaller pieces and toss it back on the beds to act as mulch. Then I lightly fluff up the mulch, matted leaves, and debris with a rake...hopefully before new growth would be damaged. I'm going to try just doing this for a while and not use any more wood mulch around plants. I hate trying to dig in a bed that has big hard wood chips ground deep into the soil. Next year I may try getting a long handled hedge trimmer to reach in and cut down the old growth. Then use a rake to pull it out to be cut up and tossed back in. I don't try to break up anything super thick or woody and just put that out for yard waste pickup or in a brush pile. The ornamental grass cuttings would just blow off the beds, so I break them up a little and use them to mulch in my fenced off veggie garden along with purchased straw. I'm in northern IL too and I just had my first few crocus blossoms a few days ago. Wish I could remember which variety they are because they are much earlier than the other varieties which just have leaves up. My daffodils are about 3-4" up too. The only perennials I noticed with new growth is some catmint, a few columbines, and one errant hosta shoot. We got a few pansies put out yesterday just for a little early color.

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.

Very pretty! We are not snow-bound here. But we have had lows in the teens. One night it was 15. I have yet to venture out to see what was killed. we have not had that low in about 15 years. I would love to grow the large callas like I saw in N. Cal. in 2002. I have a few, but not near as huge as those I saw. I have admired your front yard for years. My problem at this house is lots of spots of shade until late afternoon and then the sun fries so many things. My street curves at just the wrong angle and late sun shines down the middle of the street until my yard. Kathy