Every gardener must decide: Cut Back or Leave Standing

Aster hiding in the Amsonia

There comes a time in the fall when every gardener who gardens in a climate with a true winter season with snow and ice and, well, winter,  must decide. Cut down those seed heads on the perennials and grasses or leave them standing thru the winter.

The proponents of leaving the perennials alone for the winter point out that many of those seeds are food for the