Same here and we just had our first KILLING frost this week. We had a couple of light frosts earlier which barely bit some tender plants like bananas. Until this week, my hydrangeas which are on the north side of the house were still green as gourds. Our killing frost came late this year.

@aegis500 Ok, I'm headdd te the nursery. Give me a few quick ideas. Should I replace the dead blue junipers and keep them or rip them out and replace them with something entirely for my front area here? I have 2 more of the junipers in between the Spirea's that I just bought. Should I rip those out too and add more Spirea's or would that be too much? http://i.imgur.com/C9zqcv7.jpg http://i.imgur.com/WpRxFOs.jpg And what should I put in the corner here after I rip out those ugly Fortunei? http://i.imgur.com/0DizFHO.jpg http://i.imgur.com/oSusY9s.jpg

Those are beautiful. When I start taking winter closeups like that, I am reminded of how many more words the Eskimos have for snow and ice and winter precipitation. Our language just doesn't do justice to the myriad forms of snow and ice.

Starting from seeds is fine but it take TIME. Time is of essence. That what all the fuss about starting early to get a head start, to beat the mother nature in its own game. 1 MY living example: I started/ sowed KUMATO , on March 26Th. Today , May 1st, after 36 days it has just 3 true leaves and it is about <3" tall. I think it needs at least 15 more days to get reach a decent plant out size: That will be 51 days from sowing. This is inline with sowing 6 to 8 weeks before plant out date. Well, of course, if you have long and warm season, you can even direct sow in the garden. I have done that while gardening in GA. I have had even plants grown from cuttings much later. OTOH: what you've got to lose, : Few seeds, some time and attention and see what you'll get. It is called EXPERIMENTATION. But be prepared to have low expectations. Sey