When to do spring and fall cleanup

Cutting perennials back at the first warm week in March is the most common spring mistake. That warm week is usually followed by a hard frost, and the old growth you just removed was insulating the crown. Waiting until the soil itself has warmed costs nothing and protects the plant.

Ornamental grasses are the clearest case. Left standing, they hold their structure through winter, shelter overwintering insects, and look better in February than almost anything else in the bed. They only need cutting back before new growth pushes, which at the shore is usually April rather than March.

Autumn is the reverse. Leaves left on a lawn through a wet coastal winter mat down and smother the turf, so leaf removal genuinely is time-sensitive. Beds are different: leaf litter left in place is free mulch and winter habitat, and clearing beds to bare soil is a habit inherited from lawn care rather than a horticultural need.

The short version

• Wait for soil warmth, not air warmth, before spring cutback
• Leave ornamental grasses standing until new growth pushes, usually April here
• Clear leaves off turf before winter, but leaving them in beds is fine and useful
• Coastal spring runs later and autumn later than inland New Jersey