A little late - Overwintering

I know it's a little late to be wondering about this but I'm going with a better late than never attitude. I only just started gardening this past year and it was only just, oh, a month ago that I found out I was supposed to trim back my plants for the winter. My parents always had landscapers when I was growing up and lots of evergreen plants, very little in the way of blossoms other than some Hydrangea and Dogwood.

So, how should one overwinter their garden? My main concerns are the following types of plants:
Creeping Phlox
Hardy Phlox
Pink Heath
Hostas
Daylilies
Celmatis
Lonicera Honeysuckle
and a Rhododendron

Everything else is bulbs that need to be pulled in for the winter.

Not much I would do for those this time of year.
Hostas and daylillies I would remove the old leaves on in April before new growth.

Yup, what Al said.
Wait 'til spring, then trim back to new growth.

I cut back very little in fall - do most of mine in spring. I only get rid of the mushy stuff in fall or if I need to trim any shrub that is a summer / fall bloomer. Some of the stuff on your list I never touch, others get trimmed or cut back. Clematis - depends on which pruning group.

Okay, so I can wait 'til spring to trim back/clean up the dead stuff. What about mulching? Just cover everything with a layer of mulch? Well, except the creeping phlox and Heath I assume. Oh I have a couple of Artemisia Silver Mounds too which I know need a serious trimming. Then again I expected them to not get bigger than 12" wide and the smaller of the 2 is at least 24" and threatening the Heath and a couple of small Hostas. The other is closer to 36" and overran the 4 Daylilies surrounding it. That was at least kinda cool looking. And so soft. I love petting my Artemisia.

I love petting Artemesia too!!!

In the spring, when you begin to see new growth, cut the old, dead stems back to about 3 inches.

I always mulch/compost between things, lift the branches/stems up and tuck mulch/compost underneath.

I know! They're just so feathery.

Okay, trim to 3 inches when I see new growth and trim periodically during the season to actually keep that lovely mound shape.

Mulch between and under things. Got it. All of this is getting written in the Garden Journal I started. One of the truly useful suggestions I got from the BHG website. It reminds me to not do things like overfeed acid to my Rhododendrons. I had 2, now I have 1. The survivor is doing good though. Looking at a picture I took just after I planted it I realized it had almost doubled in size.

I am not big on fertilizing. For perennials that die back to the ground, I cut them all the way to the ground when new growth starts. When you mulch, keep it away from the base of the plant - at least two inches from the stem / trunk.

Zone envy here, I can't grow Rhododendrons :(

Hmmm...trimming an Artemesia, I've never done that, I just let them grow, they do get "flower" kinda looking things. Maybe I'll trim one this year and see what happens.

You can't get PJM there 3G? Northern Lights azalea should make it for you.

We'd need the names or pruning groups to help you with the Clematis since February is ideal, here on Long Island, to cut back Jackmanii's and others.

I, too, cut back to the earth with artemesias, heucheras, hostas, etc.

I've tried Al, they always get winter killed. I've even gone against my gardening principles and babied them!!

What is your average coldest low?

That took some serious searching!!
According to Environment Canada, January's average low temp. is 12F.
I have seen winters with 2 or 3 weeks of temps. staying in the -10's or lower.

Sounds warm. I've seen PJM's in -20F areas here. Winter protection to reduce wind/sun burning can help. They are prone to root diseases in wet areas.

Maybe I should do a little searching. It has been a few years since I have tried one, maybe it's time to try again.

Want to buy mine - I can't grow them!LOL

**dang that was good**

LOL

Naw - I could. I like the Northern Lights instead.

Victor - it was one of those cases where I read that it was a plant that loved acid so I naturally assumed I should be feeding it a little acid once a week. The one Rhodo is doing good, the other I think got the bottom part of a badly mixed batch because within a week I saw it was dying off. It's getting replaced with either an Elderberry tree or a Mimosa.

For Hostas mulch around or over? I ask because my neighbor has a good number of large hostas in her yard and when I peeked over the fence I saw that her entire bed had been mulched over. Not a sign of the hostas and I know she didn't rip them out.

ThreeGardeners - Most Artemisia don't really need to be trimmed. The only reason to trim Silver Mound is because when the middle branches get to be a certain height they flop over and now you have a big hole in the middle of it. Trimming those middle branches helps it to keep it's mound shape.

Pirl - 4 Clematis are Group 2 and 2 of them are Group 3, though the Ramon is listed as being either if you want to delay it's bloom time. Belle of Woking, Multiblue, Souvenir du Capitaine Theilluex, Ramona, Florida and Jackmanii

There are fertilizers sold for acid-loving plants if you think it's needed. I would mulch after the hostas are popping up. Group 3's should be cut way back - a few inches above ground. 2's, once they're established, can be trimmed back to the next good buds. If they're new and you want them to get bigger and don't mind sacrificing some bloom, treat them as 3's the first two or three years.

If you have mulch and get warm enough days you could mulch the hostas but not the few inches where they emerge from the earth. Old leaves should give you a big clue as to where not to mulch.

What about in the fall? That's what I'm really asking about. I figured it didn't make sense to mulch over a plant with new growth that you actually want to see. :)

No real need to cover the entire area, including where the plant was. The roots are spread out once it's established. And for hostas in particular, they are very hardy in your area.

Sorry to hear about the tragedy in your town. How terrible!

As a rule, they'll grow through it. Just like wild flowers grow up through that 5 inch pile of leaves that fell last fall.

I mulch/compost in the fall mainly because that's when my mulch/compost is ready :)
I mulch/compost once or twice during the summer as well, depending on how fast we can make more mulch/compost.

Yikes! I hadn't heard about that yet. I'm bad in that if it's not on Yahoo! news I don't tend to hear about it for a day or two. Luckily it was on the far side of town from me. I live in one of the nicer pocket neighborhoods in town just north of our major expressway.

Thanks for the tips on mulching.

while we are on the topic of cutting back perennials, i never cut back my lavender this year - last year the landlords cut back everything for me in the fall. Should i have done it before now? It seemed to get green growth on what looked like dead branches last year, so how much should i cut?

thanks...
amy
*

http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/lavendercareandtips.htm

It's an interesting read about Lavender and when you scroll all the way down you'll find the information about pruning them.

Yes - don't cut it too much! 1/3 to 1/2 at most (I stay closer to 1/3). In the past I read where it should be cut back more and I killed a number of them. Of course drainage the single most important thing with them.

I wait until my Lavender shows new growth, which means it looks kinda ratty for a couple weeks in the spring, then I just trim off the dead ends.

I do it in spring. Just doing the ends will not make it bushier.

I never have to worry about mine getting bushy, mostly I'm just happy it survived the winter. LOL

Victor is right. Then, once it's growing, you can cut a stem each week (really low) to encourage it to grow bushier.

It's also good to wait until you see growth to cut back Russian sage.

Yes, I always do. I love the newer, shorter, more upright variety I have. The name escapes me right now.

thanks!
Last year when the previously cut back lavender started showing green bits at the bottom, i cut off a bunch more of the dead branches because they were so ugly, and then i realized that new growth was appearing on them too... oops. Fortunately i mostly did that to one of the two.
And that is how my larger lavender plant became my smaller lavender plant...
: (

You can always try buying them at an Agway, in with the herbs, rather than the more pricey perennials. I believe they were 4 for $10.00 last May.