Question
I am a total novice and just planted a perennial garden this spring.  I have a couple lilac bushes, hydrangeas, knockout roses and some random plants like echinacea, astilbe, lavender.  The nursery mulched with bark and all is well.  Now winter is coming and I am reading I should mulch for winter with hay.  Does that mean I should pull up all the bark and toss it out, then cover the soil with hay?  Then in the spring, I take up all the hay and put bark back down?
Thanks for your help.

Answer
Hi Kim,
Thanx for your question.  I would leave the bark be and then if it is recommended in your area to use additional mulch, follow local guidelines and mulch on top of the bark.  If you're in zone 5 and you alread have bark down, I don't see where you'd need much more mulch except maybe around the hydrangeas.  The other stuff is pretty tough.  You can lay down another couple of inches of hay or leaves if you like.  Generally, everything you described is pretty hardy and your bark mulch should suffice.  I hope this helps.
Tom