I'm delighted to report that my Beurre Bosc FINALLY pushed it's first 6 bloom clusters this spring, all on 2 yo wood. the tree is in it's 8th leaf. I'm guessing that it noticed me removing it's neighbor about 8 weeks ago (FB got it) and got nervous about my impatience. Most importantly, I read an article last Winter about this Bosc pertaining to pruning and it indicated that my pruning methods were definitely going to delay the onset of flower bud formation, I.E., I may have been cutting off the wood where flower buds would form and/or I was not causing wood to grow that would form flower buds. Damn I wish I could find that article as it is almost time to begin pruning, according to the article. FWIW, the tree had abundant growth 2 years ago, last year's growth was abysmal, mostly going to vertical branches that shot up off the top of the scaffolds; I was so frustrated I left all the darned sprouts and said the hell with it.

Water isn't an issue right now. A few days ago, we had tons of rain. I know that when it rains alot, plants put out a lot of new growth, then when it suddenly gets hot, the new growth is so tender that it has trouble adapting. The Knock Outs are struggling more than Belinda's Dream. My intuition is telling me that Belinda's Dream is more drought tolerant than Knock Out. I will prune them earlier next year. I think that rule about cold sensitive growth, may have come from up north or something. I also have Mutabilis. I had noticed that my Mutabilis seemed cold sensitive..I also found out it was recommended for Arizona. So, I pruned, him later. He (I call him a he because of it's size!!) His new growth is doing just fine. I think we are own best judges of when to prune etc.

If the grasses are hardy for your zone, it makes no difference to cut them while the soil is frozen or to wait until it thaws. It is the activity of the grass and when it starts to grow that will determine the timing. And cutting back or not cutting back has no impact on whether the grass will increase in size (spread). Grasses growing wild have no one to cut them back and they will develop properly. Cutting back just improves the appearance in the garden and reduces self seeding on those so inclined. The Calamagrostis (Karl Foerster, Avalanche) are cool season grasses and will start growing soon so cutting back now before they are in active growth is advised. The flame grass is a warm season grass and won't start growing until temperatures warm up in mid to late spring so you can wait longer for those if you like.

When I ge(t deformed leaves on plants here in Florida, my first thought (now) is chili thrips.... especially as it starts to warm up. a way to determine if it is chili thrips .... take a white piece of paper and place it under the the deformed leaves (they attack new leaves first - but if you have a bad infestation it will attack the whole plant) and shake it.... if you get little dots on the paper it is chili thrips..... to correct the problem use something that has a high concentration of spionsad (Conserve) and spray NOT in the heat of the day.... normally late at evening or first thing in the morning.... this will get them under control. The spray will kill beneficials .... but only on contact.... in the long run you will probably not want to continue to spray - so as NOT to keep hurting the beneficials and not to get the CT's to be immune to it..... in the future to keep them under control you will want to get some ornamental hot peppers (only certain ones will work because of their under leaf structure..... Masquerade , Red Missile , and/or Explosive Ember . Plant these around your yard. When they start to flower you can purchase and introduce swirskii mites as a biological control. To find the study done by the Florida University google banker plant and swirskii mite. Good luck.