Cleaning up the Mudroom Bed

This afternoon, with the assistance of Mom, I was able to finish cleaning up the mudroom bed for the winter. We cut off all of the dead stalks and trimmed back the perennials. Certain plants, like our many salvia varieties, I will give another further haircut in the Spring. 

It was great to see how many plants have already started to form next year's new growth. We were all a little concerned that some of the plants would have suffered some damage during our extreme cold weather in early December. As you can see, poking out from their base, most of the perennials have new green leaves and shoots. The one great mystery is our "Black & Blue" salvia. It has managed to overwinter for the last two years. Will we get lucky again this year or did our -10 degree night finish it off? We will get our answer in March when it should begin sending up new growth.