Blueberry bush wacked low - survival for winter?

[Life is Good!]

We are gearing up towards winter here in N. IL....which partly means whacking the peony plants to the ground and burning the stalks/leaves (cannot compost them). Unfortunately, I planted new blueberry bushes on either end of the peony bed. Yeah...well....

The blueberry bushes are now 4" tall. They are a bush type to begin with...so I'm thinking they'll survive.

Any 'whoops, us too?!' comments? Should I mulch heavily to protect the cut ends?

 

[lazy gardener]

I call my hubby "Mr. Mows It All" because of his penchant to mow down everything green. Beautiful stand of rhubarb? Gone. High bush blueberries? Gone. Zucchini? Special pleasure in making them all gone. I once caught him trying to mow down a cherry tree. (It was in the lawn). Thankfully, I don't believe in divorce, and murder is against the law. He has other redeeming qualities that make the mowing issue a non issue! The blueberries never recovered. I now put big, too heavy to move boulders around any plantings "in the lawn" that would do lots of damage to the mower if it got too close to my plants.