I feel just like you Cybersunday, the interior of my house has been neglected and really needs a good cleaning. Spiders have been active this summer and I can't count the cobwebs I've swept up on walls and ceilings. For me, cleaning the garden in fall depends on the weather and the amount of time I have. I prefer to clean it up now because otherwise it's a massive job in spring and since I plant spring blooming bulbs, I find that it is more attractive when the garden is cleaned. For whatever reason, the leaves on the trees haven't fallen much yet and this will be another mammoth task as we have many trees on our property. I am like Glen and Bonnie as I have loads of potted tropicals and tender perennials throughout the garden. I started to bring the orchids and begonias inside for the winter and we've been kind of lucky because we haven't had frost yet so I have a few more days to cut back all those plants. Unfortunately, I can't save them all so I take cuttings of many tenders too. Although I too use to protect my plants, I haven't in the last 8 years. It is just alot of additional work and sometimes the end result wasn't worth the trouble. My philosophy is that if I have to protect plants with burlap or leaves, then they aren't intended for this climate. There are so many beautiful hardy plants that I can grow that I no longer bother with those that I know won't survive the winter.

Okey, let me take you on a tour...so what conifers do we have here. On the left back you see some Pseudotsuga mensiesii. But they are under the snow. Next, I am afraid also under the snow, you see a T heterophylla. In front on the right there are some Picea abies but unforunately they are covered by some snow. The lefthand side consists of P. omorika, P. sitchensis. P. x Lutzii, P. breweriana, P. glauca, A.alba, A grandis. Pinus unknown (got some seeds of it), L. decidua. P. orientalis and P. abies. They are there, but they are under some snow...Unfortunate for our viewers, but be assured: they love it!

I am really enjoying the winter photos, and Sedum, this was a great idea for a thread. Claire, I like your pictures of that old Cedar and of the moon, and the moon photos on that link were very creative. PM2, the Adirondack chair & stool looks perfect for sitting back and enjoying the gardens. I need to get one or two of those. And the neighbor's blue tarp would have definitely detracted from the picture. ;) Sorry to hear about your Echinacea - those woodchucks are a real pain in the neck. Maybe you could try some wire caging to protect them (or shoot the Woodchucks hehe). Incidentally, Juniperus virginiana has a very high wildlife value for cover and food. Unfortunately, my 2 mature Cedars are both males - no berries! But I have a couple smaller ones and one of those could be a female. The Goldfinch picture was taken after our last snow storm. I like the way the snow piled up on the seedheads. Last fall I cut the stems off the Echinacea (left a few for birdies) and every so often tape a bunch of them to the the feeder pole for the Goldfinches. I have a little flock of 10 or 12 that show up to pick at the seedheads and eat the BOSS (black-oil sunflower seed). Here's another one that was taken a few days ago -

Now 77 years old and now diabetic 2 (but I can eat fruit and I do have a lot of fruit). Waiting 2 more weeks before I start indoor grow light seeds, winter sowing seeds, salad seeds in heated mini greenhouse. Replaced mini greenhouse by myself and covered edges with many rolls of UV film. Sprayed chairs and ornaments with UV spray. Sprayed rusting items like dog pen for blueberries and metal ornaments with WD40. Chairs must have 2-3 bricks on them to keep them from blowing down in the wind. Laid black plastic film to replace so called landscape fabric that loves weeds. Poly film and clover are great aides to prevent weeds. I have a giant leaf blower and shredder that is now hard to lift - so I got a light weight leaf blower and blew away most of the oak leaves and nuts near the back of the house and the wind moved more for me. In spring my ex son in law will trim the too tall again so-called dwarf apricot and plum trees for me with my new electric chain pole saw. The peaches, nectarines, and mini apples are short enough. I have watering lines for sprayers and emitters and use timers. I laid out a hose line with switches from the center sprinkler so I could hand water if needed (2 times so far after water lines drained for winter) and to spray the fruit trees - now both are super easy jobs. It now takes less than 5 minutes to spray the 14 fruit trees using a hand sprayer (wonderful invention) - hah!. I also have a mister in case I overheat in the summer. I will have to prune the brambles and remove dead food crops from tubs later - but that is easy with a hand pruner. I have large trash cans with drainage slits placed at every end of the back yard for yard and garden debris until they either compost or go into the trash. Planting food crops in tubs is so easy and so is picking them. Back yard getting really gorgeous all year long. Have colored chairs, colored tubs, colored and white solar lights (getting more this week), colored and green foliage (dwarf conifers, some evergreen sedums, strawberries/blueberries/brambles turning color - earlier EAC was vivid red). I have solar and non-solar ornaments with more coming this week. I even recently added fake flowers for some tubs - crazy but it looks good this winter. Front yard dwarf japanese maples and azaleas turning color. The 2 giant oaks dropped their nuts and leaves again but not as bad as in previous years. The city just added a sidewalk so that is less area to take care off. In spring I will have lots of bulbs and flowering bushes and trees. In summer I will have food crops and flowers. In fall I will have food crops, flowers, and fall foliage. In winter dwarf conifers, sedums, and food crops in the GH. Life is good and gardening is now super easy. I find it hard to believe what I used to do when i was in my 20s - like try to garden in clay in the country and carry water from a creek a long distance away.