November brings cold, warm, overcast and sunny days. The only thing predictable about the month is its unpredictability.

Trees are still changing colors, possibly rewarding us with a kaleidoscope of yellows, oranges, reds, purples and brown. Or maybe just brown. All I know in September is that fall colors can be forecasted, but like the weatherperson, just as unreliable.

November also brings the annual dilemma — should I remove all the foliage that gets nipped by frosts and freezes or should I leave it in place?

On one hand, frosted plants often dissolve into globular masses that look hideous. Most of the vegetable crops fall into this group. There is nothing like a soft, rotting tomato plant with a few green tomatoes hanging on. Or the squash and pumpkin vines that turn to slime as their cells burst with frozen water.

On the other hand, some plants just look lovely.

A few of my hostas turn a sharp brilliant yellow. A few peonies turn a purplish red, while others match the intensity of those hostas. Cutting them down at the first sign of death would mean the loss of this autumn display.

There are some plants that look good throughout the winter even though the leaves may be completely shot. Some of the hostas form interesting mounds during the winter. The old lilies stems stick out of the ground as a reminder of where the bulbs will poke through with spring's onslaught of warm weather.

On the other hand, the sticks look rather funny during the winter and are easily broken over by an errant squirrel looking for a buried acorn, or a dog chasing an errant squirrel. Brown, dead foliage and stems during the dull gray winter months don't really add much in terms of winter color.

Still, some plants do have some winter interest. The seed heads of the black-eyed Susans and purple coneflowers will attract the colorful winter birds as well as giving them some perching spots. The ornamental grasses provide vertical height when everything else has disappeared.

Many horticulturists will tell you that removing all the foliage is a great way of cutting down insect and disease problems for next year. That's the case with most peonies, though my plants seem to end up spotted next year no matter how much of the foliage is cut off, and old mulch removed and replaced with new chips and hulls.

Then again, when the snow does fall and ends up like a fluffy down comforter on the winter landscape, the little bumps and humps of this past year's growth sends an excitement chill up and down the spine as you remember last season's plants and dream of what will be in 2004. You can summon up the "Ah, yes. That's where the chrysanthemums are. And look over there; that's the cockscomb."

One advantage to leaving plant material is that it acts as a mulch for the winter, and an insulator in the spring to prevent plants from sprouting too early and getting nipped by a late frost.

On the flip side, there's not much to do in the fall in the way of gardening. So, besides raking leaves and planting a few spring-blooming bulbs, you can spend a few minutes and carefully use your clippers to remove all the dead foliage.

Of course, they won't decompose as fast on the compost pile as they would next spring when you start adding all the lush nitrogen-rich grass clippings as the lawn bursts forth.

David Robson is an Extension Educator, Horticulture, at the Springfield Extension Center, University of Illinois Extension, P.O. Box 8199, Springfield, IL 62791. Telephone: (217) 782-6535. E-Mail: drobson@uiuc.edu

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