Getting garden ready for winter?

Every year when frost got everything, I just let it lay there til spring and then raked up the whole mess at once. But it looked ugly with all these big and little stems sticking up all winter.
What should be done to be proper? I can cut down the phlox, turtlehead, hardy geraniums? How about Jobs tears? the fronds are yellow, but the berrys hanging down are black. Do I pick them? Can I cut the stems down? should all the lilies, peonies, columbines, roses and iris be cut down or are some of these spring jobs? These questions sound stupid, but I want to be able to do what needs to be done correctly.
I have some bags of soil conditioner, should I spread that on now? (or rather, dig it in?)

I can comment on the roses since in another time of my life there were eighty in my yard.

Roses should only be lightly trimmed if at all in the fall. If you prune them down to close and get a severe winter they will die from the tips down the stem the longer it remains the better. Reserve your hard pruning for mid feb in zone 8 don't know about yours.

Only prune your tea roses not any Grandifloria varieties.

I prune the peonies and iris's after the first freeze.

Is there a park in your area? Some times you can see what they have done and get some real clues.

I watched the Pampas grass at the bank and when they cut theirs back so did I. worked well for me.Ernie

Doris, have you ever tried leaving the dead branches and just removing the leaves, debris and things that get mushy? It is really cool after the snow and ice to see little sculptures either in ice or snow standing there like skeletons! I usually clean mine all up but last year someone posted, maybe Baa or another Euro friend, about skeletons in the garden. It was really neat!

What a memory Badseed, yes that was a Baa ramble and written nearly 2 years ago! http://davesgarden.com/t/129192/ I'm chuffed to buttercups that you remembered my yarn.

DJM

In all the time I've read your posts I've never seen you ask a stupid question and you haven't asked one now! I personally feel that soil conditioners work better if added in the autumn, especially if you don't live in a rainy winter area (unlike me).

It's up to you what you want to cut down, I never cut anything down that's still green unless it's starting to warm up again but then I don't cut anything down until then anyway :)

Baa: "chuffed to buttercups" I never heard that before. It's great!

DJM, I leave the seed stalks of some plants standing to feed the birds. But not all of them - last year I left verbena bonariensis stalks standing and this year I pulled up thousands of seedlings. In fact, I am still pulling them up. I cut back and dispose of (not compost) any plants that are likely to carry disease like peonies and lilies. Be sure to clean up the fallen leaves from these plants and roses too so the disease doesn't winter over in the debris on the ground.

I agree with Eweed on the rose care. The only exception I make is if I have very tall canes that could be whipped in the wind - I cut these back so they don't end up breaking off.

Be sure to rake leaves off of beds too. Whole leaves get wet and mat down; they can smother plants and cause crown rot. If you are going to put a winter mulch on, wait until the ground is frozen; otherwise it will stay too warm and the plants won't go into dormancy.

Leave the iris standing (I assume you mean bearded iris). Pull off any dead or dying leaves now though. Autumn is when the iris borers are hatching and starting to eat their way through to the rhizomes. Pulling the dying leaves off will also remove the egg cases before they hatch. Dispose of the leaves in the trash or put them in a hot compost pile.

About rose pruning: there is a raging debate among rosarians about when to prune roses (hybrid tea, floribunda and grandiflora), especially in warmer climates. In cold climates (zone 6a and colder) it is much easier. After they have gone dormant, cut as much of the stems down as necessary to put at least 8" of mulch on top of the graft union so they don't die over winter. Almost always the exposed parts of the canes will die from winter cold anyway. Pruning roses before they are dormant from cold will result in new growth, something you definitely do not want to do in the fall.

If you have other types of roses, like shrub roses, groundcover roses, climbing roses, etc., the rules are different about winter protection and pruning.

If you have a hollyhock, don't cut it down until spring. Otherwise, you can prune or not prune most other herbaceous perennials either now or in late winter.

OH thank you, ALL of you. This is what I needed. Past 2 years I cut roses down to a few inches, and wondered why they never survived. I would pile oak leaves on top of the plants "to protect them" and then find in the spring only the sturdier things survived. Besides, the oak leaves are tough, they do not break down easily. In the spring, they still look like they just fell off the tree! This year I am determined to try not to lose any of these plants and with this help from everyone, I may actually do it!

Oh, and how about the David Austin roses? Same care? Do you recommend rose cones? Then too I have a June rose (lost its name) it has long arching branches, and when it bloomed this year, the roses were all practically touching the ground. I'm afraid to cut it down for fear it will never bloom again. Took 4 years to finally get blossoms!

Badseed, what a memory! I enjoyed reading that thread again!

LOL The mind (memory) is a very absorbent thing often unused. Why waste it?! :) Mine is usually full of worthless info but sometimes it comes in handy. hahahaha

Lupinelover, why not cut the Hollyhock? This has peaked my interest.

I'll let Lupi come back with her own answer but somewhere I read the stems are hollow and they will collect water and kill the crown. I do cut mine back in June or July to encourage a second flowering.

The thing I would be concerned about is wintering over rust spores on the foliage. I wonder if you could cut the stems close to the ground and them scrunch a piece of foil over them. That would keep out the water and it would be very attractive too.....LOL

I leave my gardens mostly intact for the winter. I find that the dead vegetation creates a tent around the plants that helps equalize the freeze & thaw cycle here. The birds also enjoy the leftover seedpods. Cleaning off the gardens in April is a wonderful way for me to declare spring!

In Los Angeles we have our most active planting time now. There is no down time, not even for a week! I just finished planting all the cool season vegies, and now I'm planting lots of CA natives and Mediterranean perennials. It's a good time to add lots of compost to all the beds.

I agree with Wandasflowers. I don't do too much in the garden as far as getting ready for winter. I enjoy seeing snow on everything, that is when we have snow. Sedum Autumn Joy or any of the others is so pretty with a cap of fresh snow. And the birds appreciate all the different seeds. I did cut down the castor beans today. needed the room they were taking up to plant some new perennials. Today was so nice, 72 degrees, altho windy. And we did get some rain while I was gone to Reno. Was so thankful for that. Donna

I cut back the iris about 2/3 and clean up really well (iris borer loves my yard), I use chopped oak leaves for mulch -run them over with the lawn mower-then they do not pack down-then I can remove just a bit at a time. I only cut back a little on the roses=so I don't stick myself in the eye (serious), I leave a bit of stalk on the lilies so that I do not dig them up when plantings something else. I cut back any leaves of columbine that has mildew and leave the rest. I leave the cut leaves of the tall grasses for the birds to eat the seeds and to find shelter in.
I am not done yet-no surprise there.

Do you use those rose cones for your roses, or are the leaves enough mulch? Doris

I have added 216 bags of hardwood mulch to my beds in the past 2 weeks. A friend had a huge free pile from a local tree trimming service. I filled and moved the bags 10 at a time on my lunch hours. I emptied them every night & 3 times on weekend days. My arms still ache, but I'm ready for winter & spring weeds now!

Wow, Wanda... 216 bags of hardwood mulch?

One year the tree-trimming people the city uses graciously (at my request) dumped their truckload of fresh chippings into my driveway. It was just starting to compost nicely and my housemate, who had no experience with composting, scattered it, being afraid it would go from a light smolder into a fire. Of course, it did make nice mulch, LOL.

216!!!!!!!! If I ever get crazy like that again, I think I'll go up to the high school & hire some football players (slaves) to do the dirty work! Come to think of it, I think I'll "buy" some at our November auction to widen & edge the gardens next spring. Lord knows, I'll need the space by the time I get done trading all my extra daylilies.... :)

Hmmm, rent-a-kid! Why haven't I thought of that? I suppose it is too late here now for that but there is always next year. I'll have to call around and see if some local school, club or church is raising money that way.

MaryE good luck with the rent a kid idea I have had a lot better luck and a lot more production hiring good honest migrant workers.

They appreciate honest wages and so far they do better work un supervised than the high school kids in my area.

I have had some good kids in the past but lately they are hard to come by.Ernie

I did not answer the rest of djm's ? I use the corrugated white, snap together enclosures and fill with dry, chopped oak leaves; this prevents the ground heave and I can remove the mulch in layers. Tea roses are iffy in this area and I have been only partially successful in keeping them for more than a few years-black spot and mildew do very well however.

djm, I am sorry I didn't respond for so long! My 'puter was mostly down until Tuesday.

You can use rose cones if you want. I recommend cutting the stems down after they are dormant , tying the remaining canes together so that they fit inside the cone, and then packing insulating material around the inside of the bound canes. You can use wadded newspaper, shreded leaves, bark mulch, etc. Try to avoid plastic. Put the cones on top of the whole mess, then weigh the cones down with soil all around the edges so they don't blow away. Make sure that you leave the air hole at the top open, so that the heat doesn't accumulate and bring them out of dormancy on a mild sunny January day.

You should be able to bring them through OK. David Austin roses run the whole range of hardiness -- some are very hardy, others are very tender. I have Abraham Darby who has never had any winter die-back, ditto The Prince. However Pat Austin dies to the mulched area yearly. But just to be on the safe side (I would hate to lose any of my Austin roses) I fully protect them with a lot of mulch heaped around the crown.

None of my roses are dormant yet. As a matter of fact, several of them are still blooming! And almost all have unopened buds. They don't believe that winter is coming. I often have fresh roses on or after Thanksgiving, then winter arrives with a thud.

The reason to not cut down hollyhocks is as above. Water or ice enters the hollow stems down into the root stock, which then freezes. The stems do heal over in a few weeks during the summer, but mine have never done so during the fall. I have tried various types of mulch, but none have prevented the moisture problem. Although I never have tried aluminum foil! We have a lot of wind, so anything that I use has to be able to be securely fastened.

I cut back the worst of the mess, especially anything that was diseased (my powdery-mildew covered phlox for example.) We have trees that provide a copious amounts of leaves, so I shred them (mowing and/or my handy shredder), then place a nice, fluffy layer around all the perennials, then shovel on some nicely-composted manure.

In the spring, the "front" beds will get covered with fresh pinestraw (after the maple seedlings have done their annual germination-fest and I can smother them.) The not-so-public beds will get more manure or some hardwood mulch, depending on what's most readily available and cheapest.

Next up this fall (after we get our first freeze tonight!) is the veggie and cutting gardens - same treatment, except that I'm more ruthless about pulling up and getting rid of everything before I put down mulch and a thicker layer of compost. This year, the strawberry plants are going in the compost heap, to be replaced with a new variety early next spring.