Question
What do I do with my dried up perennials and annuals dig them up. Cut them back? I am not quit sure what to do and I hate to dig them up if they can come back next year. Thank You for your help Linda

Answer
If you had only annuals, and you knew exactly where they were, the usual maintenance would be to pull them out and rake smooth.  It just looks nice that way.  You could compost them in the back and next year you'd have some free fertilizer back there.

But you're not sure about the perennials.

Remember this predicament next year when you're planting.

I'd like to recommend ice cream sticks to i.d. the plants you have.  But they don't last more than a year and they can hardly be seen a few months into summer, with rain and mud turning them brown.

Plastic plant i.d.'s are your best bet - next year.

This year, assuming you have hardy perennials, leave well enough alone and watch next spring to see what's out there growing.

It's really business as usual.  The annuals may even reseed if you're lucky.  They do that sometimes, especially sweet alyssum.

Perennial flowers should be removed thru the summer to keep them from going to seed.  But in the autumn, it's a good idea to let them do the opposite; seed production helps them get the message that their work is done and it's time to go dormant for winter.  You don't want to stimulate growth at this point in the year.

Does that make sense?