Garden clean up in winter??

Question

Should i leave all the dead leaves during winter to keep the plants protected from frost in zone 9? And should I be pruning off the parts that have died from the frost?

Answer 1

the dead leaves can be removed, but they do help to keep the plants under them warm. pruning should never be done unless you know the parts are dead,and only after the worst weather is past, usually late winter to mid-spring. though plants and trees will freeze, they are rarely killed during the freezing weather since the sap is not running.
the sap is the food which starts to rise in spring as the plant or tree begins to come out of hibernation from the winter. that is why, in a late-freeze, such as can happen in march and april, kills some plants and trees. the sap has begun to rise and if it freezes, it will kill those areas which are exposed and have just begun to re-activate. normally, thick limbs don't die, but thin and early growth will.
any other pruning, especially for younger trees should be the removal of the brand-new branches which come out each spring along the lower truck of the tree. it helps to trim these to allow the tree to grow upwards and outwards since these small suckers will draw a good deal sap from the rest of the tree and keep it from growing upwards.

Answer 2

I would clean up in zone 9 since you have few freezes and often can having warm spells...otherwise diseases, insects and fungus will live quite well in the dead leaves. Prune frost damaged plants for the same reason...

Answer 3

No clean the leaves up especially on grass.