By Barbarak
North Yorkshire,
United Kingdom 
Tidying up foliage. I am a bit of a OCD with removing dead foliage but most of the deciduous plants didn't die off in the mild winter. The recent frosts literally only frosted a few leaves on the alstroemerias and made the geums look scruffy. So do I cut off last years foliage as new leaves are appearing at ground level or just leave alone. Nature is strange really when some perennials died down like the fuschias and peonies losing their leaves and others not in the same weather conditions.!
20 Mar, 2016
Answers
Often happens in our mild climate. Normally we just cut off last year's growth as the new shoots come up.
21 Mar, 2016
I'm also OCD about tidying up and pulling up seemingly dead plants. I think I've already pulled up and tossed an osteospermum that looked dead, whilst the one on the other side of the garden is now showing green shoots. Ho hum.
As for cutting off the alstroemeria stems, why not force your secateur hand to hold off for another couple of weeks or more just to see what happens? Once the new growth gets stronger then you can make a decision?
21 Mar, 2016
I'm with Tugbrethil on this one - remove all last year's foliage now, unless its really cold where you are, when you can wait another week or two, till it gets a bit warmer. If you wait too long, the new growth will get taller and it'll be difficult to clip back old growth without damaging the new. The exception is fuchsia - you should wait till April, and only when new growth is beginning.
21 Mar, 2016
Thanks all, we are away for a couple of weeks now so I'll leave until I return, just in case there's a cold spell again. Been a nice day here for the first day of Spring.- 12 deg. Green house vents opening. Hooray!
21 Mar, 2016
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That is a strange situation I have never encountered. I'd love to hear what the experts say.
20 Mar, 2016