Caroline, if your foliage is still green it's suggested in the south to cut them down anyway in the fall to force them into dormancy. Regardless of whether they're cut or not they'll go dormant where the winters are really cold. I never started cutting my foliage back in the fall until I started getting mildew, used to just cut the old stuff back at first sign of life in the spring. Now it's about half and half-I cut back all I have time and energy to get to, the rest in the spring!
