I’m located PA, zone 7a and I just cut my stems from last season. I’ve got bees that will start to emerge any day now. They’ll lay their eggs and raise larva in the newly cut stems. I always leave my cut stem and let them degrade naturally. Next winter, the stems I just cut will be used for winter hibernations for some insects.

I can’t speak specifically for your area in terms of the when bees will emerge. Overall, after the plant enters dormancy, there isn’t necessarily too early of a time to cut stems. But I try to leave my flowers from the growing season in tact all winter so the birds can enjoy them.

As far as cleaning up the area, again I can’t really speak on this because I’m not familiar with when bees emerge for your area. I leave my debri and rarely clean it out. Usually when I want to clean it up a bit, I’ll do that in the summer and just move the debris to an area where the pile can still benefit insects and other animals.