To Clean or Not to Clean

Fall cleanup – what to do?  Do you prefer a tidy landscape for the winter or do you like a little visual stimulation to help you get by until spring?  You may choose to cut back every plant in your garden and dispose of the debris in the fall.  It’s also ok to leave your plants standing until spring.  Many plants look great all winter, especially ornamental grasses and plants with seed heads such as Black-Eyed Susans (which also feed the birds).  Leaves can be left in your garden beds to break down over the winter and provide nutrients to the soil.  Another benefit of being ‘lazy’ in the fall is that by spring there is much less debris to remove because the foliage has broken down so much.