Let perennials go to seed or cut down?

[MurielTheActor]

This year I had a brand new bed dug over and planted it up with perennials that all went mad due to the rain. You would never believe it is a new bed .
Lupins, which grew particularly vociferously, have now gone to seed and is letting the bed down by looking rather ugly.
Would you cut it back or let it do its thing?

I've cut mine back - just the stems with the seed pods on, I've left the leafy bits. Don't know if this is right though but makes it look neater. Think I did the same last year and was ok.

I think cutting back is the right thing - that way, the plant will put its energy into bulking-up, rather than making seed. And I'm envious of anyone whose lupins haven't been eaten by snails!

Agree they should be cut back hard. You can collect any seeds and dry them out for next year

Lupins - my book says this. Flowering June/July and September " if first flush of blooms are removed after they have faded" They are unfortunately short lived and have a number of enemies - SLUGS, virus ( mottled leaves and stems) and mildew. They like ACID soil, and crowns should be covered in winter to avoid frost damage. But it says nothing about cutting them down to ground level for the winter.

Remove as seeds will be useless if the plant is a hybrid.

With all my perennials, I always cut down the flower stalks with seeds in the autumn. With my Japanese Anemones , They have more foliage than flower stalks and is advised to cut off flower stalks but leave the leaves to provide protection for their roots/crowns in winter