There is a huge difference in what will happen to plants in the winter between a zone 6 garden and a zone 3 garden :-) Like most of the other comments, I'd not be overly concerned........a great many perennials will maintain at least a basal rosette of foliage through the winter months, especially with mulching or snow cover. If the weather is mild, they will often push some new growth. And most spring flowering bulbs are extremely tolerant of cold weather, often pushing up foliage while still midwinter. It is very unusual to have them permanently damaged by this phenomenon. This is an ongoing topic of discussion on the Bulbs forum, as it is often a cause of consternation to new bulb growers in cold climates. Unless they are in bud or bloom when very cold weather hits, they are typically undamaged (perhaps some minor tip burn of the leaves) and will bloom on schedule.

my real sign of spring is when I can plant the flowers I have been growing all winter (April 15th is my official last frost date) Here is a link that might be useful: gardening by the seat of my pants

48, 52!!!! I wish! It got down to 10 last night and achieving a balmy 35 today! 52 WOULD seem like heaven to me! I wish we could get ONE day in the 50s! We will have the 4th coldest march on record here in my neck of the woods! Its not that its been terrible cold, but its been only hovering around mid 30s at most now, usually we are near 40 to mid 40s for seasonal temps... I still have FEET of snowpack left.!!!! ARRRGHHHHH Silverkelt, from the worst winter EVER! no really EVER! 148 inches of recorded snow in HIRAM, ME. I know some of you get more, BUT THATS alot here, I was getting used to the 80 inch snow year let me tell you!

I am in north LA. I started my brassicas in early November for transplant in December. While it was colder and rainy they didn't do much but are now growing pretty fast. If you want to direct sow them I would do it immediately. I am not confident that even my earlier plantings won't end up bolting before I can harvest anything - who knows what the weather will do. But keep in mind your future plans for your garden real estate. I try to plant the slow-growing winter vegetables as soon as I can in Nov/Dec, so they will be finished by the time I have the tomatoes ready to set out. If you'll need the space for summer plants, I would have at least some of those ready to go in the moment the brassicas are done. You might like a book called "52 Weeks in the California Garden" by Robert Smaus. It has helped me a lot with what to do when, because planting times based on last frost date and that sort of four-season information usually doesn't apply here. Here is a link that might be useful: Southern California Vegetable Planting Schedule