Greeting Larose,

Buddleia should be pruned in the spring once you can see the damage winter has done. It blooms on new wood.

Lantana should have dead and dying leaves pruned off.

Tender plants like elephant ears should have dead or dying leaves removed as to not mold or possibly rot the plant.

I know nothing about daylilies.

Edna

I have quite a few daylilies (at least 50 plants) and I've done it both ways for years and years, depending on my mood. No difference whatsoever in survival rates. They ALL live. These are very hardy plants.

If you clean up the daylily foliage now, the plants will survive just fine, you won't have such a mess in the spring and DH will be happy that you followed his advice. Win win on daylilies. Good luck with the rest!

PattiOh

Hi Larose,
I garden in Canadian zone 4/5 so our situations are a "little" different ;) I agree with Patti about the daylilies - you won't do them any harm at all. As for the others, Edna would know best since it is close to her zoning and I think she must grow everything possible to grow!

Here I sometimes leave the dead/dying plants to provide some winter protection, but that is only effective if we happen to get some snow. The plant debris traps the snow around the base of the plants and actually insulates to keep them COLD not warm. This protects them from fluctuating temperatures, mild rainy days, and melting from sunlight, all of which can trigger sprouting. Last winter was a bit of a disaster here - we got almost no snow and wildly fluctuating weather (above 0 one week then 20 below the next). While I did enjoy the lack of snow and the unseasonable temperatures, it was very hard on the gardens. I lost many, many things that have never batted an eye before. We also had an extended warm spell in March so that all the daffs and tulips started to grow, but then temperatures took another dive and they all were arrested in thier growth and never recovered. I only got a handful of blossoms from dozens of bulbs, many of which were well-established.

So, despite my aversion to long months of snowy, frozen weather, this year I am hoping for it! It will also be good for the ski hills and snowmobile clubs - winter sports suffered badly last year, as did all those who get spinoff from them.

Thanks to all for the very helpful input! I will get right on the tender plants and lantana. I'll try to get to the daylilies too.