This morning's freeze will likely have damaged or killed most of your summer annuals, summer vegetables and tender perennials. For veggies and annual flowers that do not drop seed (like petunias, impatiens, begonias, etc), pull them out (roots and all*) and put in compost pile.

For your perennials (and shrubs), the best time to prune them back is in late winter. Try and leave everything standing in your garden as long as possible.

Why?

1) If you cut everything down to the ground in your perennial garden right now, it's going to look barren and empty, and there is no benefit to doing so. Leave perennials standing through winter to provide visual interest in your garden.

Look at how beautiful an unpruned Piet Oudolf garden looks in winter:

Piet's extensive use of ornamental grasses is intentional because it creates magic through winter months. Consider adding more ornamental grasses to your gardens next year.

2) Even when frost killed, perennials are an important source of food and shelter for wildlife, and the foliage can provide insulation for the root crown. (For perennials that can be iffy through winter like Salvia Mystic Spires, mulch the root crown heavily now for optimal insulation.)

3) Annuals that re-seed like sunflowers, gomphrena, zinnias, cosmos, nigella, ammi, rudbeckia, and amaranth should be left in the garden as long as possible to encourage re-seeding for a repeat bloom next year. Once the dead plants get too unsightly for you to bear, crush up the seed heads and scatter around the garden before pulling out the plants.

*Leaving any part of a plant prone to pests and disease like vegetables behind in the garden will make pest and disease problems worse next year. Practice good garden hygiene, and do not create a favorable habitat for problematic organisms by leaving things behind for them to feed on. This is how I maintain healthy, productive gardens and reduce reliance on treatments.

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