Autumn Garden Cleanup - the 2025 Edition

Today was autumn garden cleanup day at our Homegrown National Park in Medfield, Massachusetts.  The most amazing part is that it started at 10 a.m. and was over at 2 p.m. Four hours is likely a record that will stand for a long time.

My neighbors have either raked or blown (or both) their leaves at least half a dozen times (or had a service do it for them). My leaves aren’t going anywhere: they’re going to home for insects and pollinators for this winter. By spring (if we get a sufficient amount of snow), they’ll be largely composted, and I’ll need only clear them from the walkways.

The Magnolia bed was first on the agenda simply because I have to look at it as I pull into the driveway. The bed bordering the driveway is three layers deep: Amsonia, Veronia, and Vernonia closest to the driveway; more Vernonia (especially 'Iron Butterfly' ), and peonies in the middle layer, and Pyncantheum (mountain mints) in the rear.

Amazingly, it took less than 45 minutes to take it all down, including leaving the thick Amsonia stalks at least 14 inches long. Those stalks are hollow, and large enough to provide a home for, say, bees. The best part, though, is I don't have to look at yellowing plants any more.

The sun garden was the other major time consumer. It is now approximately 300 square feet of flowering perennials - rudbeckia, betony, oxyeye daisies, monarda, asclepias, and Carolina lupines.  But, the plants fell into two categories: spent, and those still with seedheads.

The solution was to cut down the perennials, but leave the seedheads where they fell for those plants that could still provide sustenance for birds and other creatures; but carry away everything else. Cutting was made somewhat more difficult because things like daisies and rudbeckia already have next year's greens in place.

The sidewalk bed looked, at first glance, like it needed nothing more than to be swept. That's when I noticed, with all its leaves off, the growth spurt our spicebush (Lindera benzoin) had put on over the summer.... think five additional feet on a shrub that claimed its height topped out at seven feet and would remain 'compact'.

Twenty minutes later, I had brought its height back to its prescribed level and shaped it at the same time. The more fundamental problem is that the recommended three foot distance from sidewalk to center stem is inadequate. This spicebush wants to stretch out; and its lateral growth also is impeding two viburnums (maple leaf and cranberry) from reaching their potential. I'll kick that can down the road for another year.

The back of the driveway presents its own challenge. It's where the bulk of the snow goes from the parking turnaround. In snowy years, the pile at the back can get to six feet. Perennial debris left underneath that snow will rot and become a petri dish for disease.

So, of course, that area, too, needed to be taken down to stubble. It all looks very nice, though I admit I miss the gorgeous gold Amsonia that occupies the space in the autumn. 

The rear garden took no time at all to clear because, well, it's just fallen leaves. And, I'm perfectly content to let those leaves lie where they are. If we get any decent amount of snow, those leaves will be partly composted by next spring. I'll need only rake them out of the paths.

The nicest part of the cleanup was that what happens on Pine Street stays on Pine Street. Every load of cut-down perennials was carted to a brush pile that is on our property but adjacent to the abutting conservation land. The brush pile will provide winter shelter to garden wildlife. Over time, it will break down into soil, with some intermediate stops.

Four hours after I began cutting the Amsonia by the garage, I realized I had nothing more that needed to be done. It doesn't mean I won't find lots of clean-up tasks. It just means that the things that were 'gotta do's' were done the day before Thanksgiving.

Now, that's something to be thankful for.

(Alright, a confession: there is a parking pad at the very front of the property that will be raked free of leaves. They, too, will go into the brush pile.)