Fall vs. spring: Garden cleanup tips – Petoskey News

Wasn’t it a gorgeous weekend for gardening!? I was busy enjoying the fall colors with our Master Naturalist class at Petoskey State Park on Saturday, but spent three hours cleaning up yellowing foliage in my gardens on Sunday.

I was reading about fall vs. spring garden cleanup and one thought mentioned to consider was; if you leave it until spring, the wilted dead foliage might make a nice winter home for mice and voles. Since I had a serious problem with voles last winter I decided to make an effort to clean up everything except my ornamental grasses and coneflowers. Ornamental grasses provide great winter interest and my birds love coneflower seeds. I also decided to leave my peonies since they have wonderful fall color. It’s OK to cut back your peonies now if you’d like to.

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