There are several like peonies- monarda and others that are prone to mildew or wilt that I try to get trimmed and cleaned up early - The same goes for heavy duty, zone hardy reseeders like phlox.
Although- I do chop down to snow line on the nice days in late winter to get a jump start on things... That is when I will prune fruit trees and bushes too.
This is a good post- and timely too- I will be interested to know how others approach the task-
Julie

I cut everything down in the fall, except the vines that come back on old wood. We've got a good, thick layer of mulch so I don't think the dead foliage would make any difference. I'm just careful to make sure that the foliage is completely dead before I cut it down, then I stick it in the compost (unless it was diseased).

You're right, in the Spring it seems like an almost endless job to clean things out. I clean up part of the garden in the Fall but I do leave a bunch standing so they will catch the snow so I have a good snow cover. Sometimes it works and some years we don't have too much snow cover. Now, if the deer and rabbits would just stay out ! LOL

I do my garden clean-up in the spring for the reasons cited by Nettie.....better winter survival.

However, next spring my plate is going to be very full, so this Fall I am going to compromise and clean-up a few of the beds completely and some of the beds partially. The bone hardy perennials (phlox, peonies, monarda, etc) will get cut back this Fall. Things going through their first winter and my entire seed bed areas I will leave until spring.

I really prefer to wait until Spring for everything. Gives me a reason to be out and about in the gardens early when those few warm spring days first appear. Also, I like all the foliage in the beds for winter interest and bird food.
Jan

I have always cut things back when they start to look ratty (like to think of myself as a free spirit, but there is a compulsive aspect to my makeup that I might as well acknowledge)
It is a heck of a lot easier IMHO to do the cleanup in the fall and gives the illusion that I am in control of something, but since last winters seed exchange, I am seeing the value in saving and passing along seed. Always wondered why some things never seemed to spread all that much (duh!) So I see the potential to winter sow stuff that I enjoy and want to increase...like all the little starts of husker red for example.
Im also seeing the value of leaving those grungy unkempt (oh heck! thats really the whole look of my gardens anyhoo ) seedheads for the birds to feast upon. After all, they have been kind enough to bring me an occasional "present" via the seed exchange principle, I guess I can return the favor!
Im still deciding, but probably after harvesting seed from some things, I will do a mix of cutting and leaving.
suz

I cut everything back when it croaks so that by late fall there isn't so much to do at once. One year I purposely left it all until spring, which I do believe is better, but I just HATED dealing with all the floppy, slimey foliage and stalks, whereas it's rather enjoyable to cut back crisp dead stuff in the fall. So now I mulch with oak leaves for winter.

I wait until spring. I enjoy the seeing the seed heads and the birds that are glad to have the food, I tell myself that it helps provide winter cover. Most of all I find the surprise of uncovering the new shoots in spring so much fun.

I have thought of this too and (as with everything in my life pretty much) I have been faking it and just cutting things as they start to look ratty (now, delphinium,phlox,lupine etc) and then just doing the rest in the spring.

this is the first year though that I'm thinking I may need to cut back seedheads of things I don't want too much more of.

I used to be very free about things reseeding but my more mature garden was pretty crowded this year with things I let seed. I think I'll try to do a little more controlled seeding with some things (mainly cosmos,datura,nicotiana,hollyhock's and queen anne's lace) so that some of my perennials don't get drowned next spring. For some reason this year things went nuts!

Anyway, I'm always chomping at the bit in the spring for anything to do in the garden before things start coming up.

I wait on most stuff until spring. I have a LOT of birds here, and they love the seeds, berries, and hips. It also gives things that need to reseed a chance to do so. I'm of the "as soon as it's warm and starting to thaw in spring..." camp.

-Marie

This has been an interesting read.
One of the things that happens when I leave the plants standing is that they catch the late falling oak leaves(long after rakes are put away)that are trying to blow into the woods and this is one of the soggy messes that I hate to clean in the spring. I have yet to find an easy way to remove them from around plants and I have torn out more perennials with rakes than I can count. It ends up being a hands and knees chore most of the time.
I think I am going to give the fall clean-up a try this year on those beds that hold the hardier plants at least. We feed the birds diligently so I don't worry so much about them. We should all compare notes again in the spring.

I leave the big tough things like grasses and eupatorium until the spring but try to cut back everything else in the fall. Mice became a problem nesting in the debris of many plants, and often ate the entire growing crown out of the plants by spring. I lost several siberian iris in that manner, a couple of sedges and a few daylilies. Also, all the dead plants provide winter hiding places for rabbits, and I find I have a lot more damage to trees and shrubs when I leave the perennials standing all winter.

As birdwing noted, unwanted seedlings can become a big problem when plants aren't dead-headed (for me, it's phlox). Plus, in the spring the gardens can be too waterlogged to walk in, and I get really impatient when tulips and daffodills begin to sprout and are surrounded by depressing, dead stems and leaves that I can't get to and remove.

Of course, there are always areas I don't get around to, and when I see how awful they look in the spring, I'm glad I cut back as much as I could in the fall.

Uh- I probably shouldn't admit I know this..... But if you wait long enough in the spring- the slimy bits get crisp again....

Sometimes- I will have to remove fallen leaves in spring in "layers" as I find they are sometimes still frozen on the lower aspects- so I will rake the thawed bits as they dry.

Hmm- just a thought- does anyone leave oak leaves or other leaves down as a mulch through the summer?Julie

I do leave some of fallen leaves on the beds. Worse yet, I crunch up some of the crispy leaves and small stalks and spread them back on the beds. Makes for less stuff I have to haul away. Besides, it makes no sense to me to haul all the organic debris away and then haul mulch back to the beds.

Yes, I know the 'books' tell me my gardens will succumb to dreaded diseases by not making the beds totally free of last years foliage. So far that has not happened. I doubt it will. I don't see mother nature sending in a crew to rake up up the woodlands and make them sparky-clean! LOL.
Jan

Julie,

I have noticed that the slimy bits dry up again as well. I figure that I need as much ground cover as I can get when the winter winds blow around my house.

Pauline

Julie, I do! With this hulking great maple here it's sort of silly to not leave (haha) some of them around the beds - I've added a good 1/2-1" of soil in the past few years because of it - a GOOD thing with our clay!

-Marie

I tend to leave things until spring. Both so I can get seed (sometimes someone asks for something I didn't collect - but might have on the plant) and for the birds. I love to look out and see the Goldfinches on the last of the coneflower or agastache heads late in the season. Seems that they'd rather eat natural!