Can you recommend a site or book on fall clean-up activities?
Answer
My best recommendation is for you to read or buy America's Garden Book by Bush-Brown (available here in the PHS library). It is the perfect book for the beginning and then more advanced gardener as it tells you all you need to know about perennials, bulbs etc. The perennial beds should be put to "bed" by cutting down most perennials (I leave some of the seed heads for the birds, but that depends on what you have in the perennial garden), clean up of dead foliage in the bed and then around Christmas time layering on top of the bed the branches from your Christmas tree (or your neighbor's if you don't have a tree) so that the sun does not warm the soil and cause the perennials to heave out of the soil. You should not have to take any of the plants indoors as they should all be hardy perennials. The annuals are annuals: they have only one season of growth. If you are a member of PHS you can check out the recommended book and see how you like it before buying it. It has been my 'bible' for 40 years and now has been updated.