Missi - I think our weather in KC is similar to your's in IA. Lots of great pics above... but I've gotta say I'm thankful my hostas aren't very far along. I have pips galore, but nothing is up very far, and there's no unfurling at all... all good, since we're having some really cold weather this weekend and possible snow on Sunday. However, I have about 50+ plants hanging out in the family room, in front of the windows, that I'm raising for the club sale - and they all look great and grow a little more each day. So that's fun. And I'm going to visit a local nursery having it's spring extravaganza tomorrow - with 20% off - and hoping to snag some clematis... and whatever else I might find. Warmer temps are coming soon.

Mxk3 - What part of the country are you in? What zone? Did you purchase mason bees somewhere? And have you done that before? I’m curious when you release them and do you attempt to provide habitat for them? Sam - Do you get snow and freezes all the way through April? Schoolhouse - I don’t have that particular weed, but I see others here that I seem to be getting more of every year. I love peonies but I don’t grow them. I had one for about 4 years and then I gave it away. It never failed to come into bloom right before a heavy rain and drop all it's petals. I barely had a bloom for 5 days. If you have a whole row of them it must be a sight to see! And you must have blooms to bring in the house. Sounds wonderful! Dee - We’ve had that happen, where a branch breaks but doesn’t fall out of the tree. [g] Glad yours finally came down safely. We have had a lot more wind than usual here. From the sounds of it, you are ahead of me with what is already growing. We had a forsythia that spread out so much we took it out. It ended up in more shade than it needed and didn’t bloom well by that time. Now I enjoy it in my neighbor’s yard. [g] And yes, looking around at everything that needs to be done….overwhelming. I’m trying to put blinders on and focus on the next step and ignore the rest. Deanna - I think there are Crocus varieties that are earlier than others. I’ve stopped adding crocus, because some critter keeps eating them. I went on a buying spree one fall and had many new varieties of crocus, including that ‘King of the Stripes’ that I like so much then after one spring of really enjoying them, they disappeared by the next year. It’s so odd that the area where I have the vinca planted under my front Maple was the only place that I didn’t lose any. And that is the oldest planting I have and it keeps coming back every year. I have to think it’s because of the vinca. Luckily it has ‘Jeanne d’Arc’ which is the very large white that I enjoy and a few others that do spread seed quite a distance, so I get a lot of surprises when they come up in other areas. But I think I’m down to about 4 different varieties and the rest are history. I comforted myself by buying more hyacinths and snowdrops and miniature daffodils that the critters don’t seem to bother. I have basal foliage for Oriental Poppies. They are so fresh so early and are not bothered by a late cold spell or more snow. Functionthenlook - I haven’t started cleaning up yet, but I can see some growth at the base of Chrysanthemums and Daylilies. Yes, the muscles are complaining at me just from a little pruning and I haven’t started doing anything difficult yet. [g]

How pretty everyone's blooms are! My chickasaw plum already finished blooming, and my macadamia tree did as well. Wild ageratum/blue mistflower has been blooming for weeks and I just love the scent. Bees and butterflies appreciate them too. Duranta is flowering a lot now and the butterflies also like that. I have a red ground orchid that's blooming and another purple phalaenopsis is budding. Some walking iris just finished too. My bok choy, wild arugula and some lettuces are bolting as well. Our neighbor has an enormous kapok tree covered with huge red blossoms - a lovely sight, but they will soon become seedpods full of cottony fluff that drifts around like snow and covers everything with filaments, and spreads seeds to sprout everywhere too - not so lovely. No good photos, sadly...

The 6 week rule is generally the rule I tend to keep in mind in other areas where I am waiting for brownout or at least the minimum time I can cut the foliage out. Granted the crocus bulb is so small....I'm sure it will be fine cutting them, since I have cut other bulbs while in the green. Mine are planted in flower beds so I just leave brown out naturally since they arean't in my way of other plantings. I gave the lawn a wake up cut the other day. Let me see how long it will get if I leave it alone for a month and a half to decide......never have done the crocus field cause I know I am generally out before then cutting the turf. And MyBrownThumb made a good point which I wasn't even looking at - the height of Cut , may not even affect the foliage to some degree