I spent the weekend at my parent's place in NE Ohio, cutting down their huge ornamental grasses and overwintered perennial stalks, and doing general cleanup for the coming of spring.  The first part of March is always a good time to do those chores in our neck of the woods.  We had to lug the leftover fireplace wood back to where it rests for the majority of the year.  When my stepfather starts an indoor fire in one of their two fireplaces, it sends smoke into the room a bit.  Mom is having none of that.  Probably need a chimney sweep.  So they didn't use much of their firewood this past winter.  I found a volunteer arborvitae (Thuja) baby under one of the huge grasses...we'll have to move it after a while.  The rabbits nearly girdled the bark of the witchhazel (Hamamelis vernalis) planted last fall.  Dirty little &*#$%.  Told my stepfather it was time to break out the bebe gun.

Something I've noticed over the 30 years I've lived in Columbus (on and off, many many times) is that we never had Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) overwinter here with any success.  We used to see them south of the city, traveling towards Cincinnati where they did overwinter.  It was kind of a visual dividing line for plant zones.  Well, now I see them all along the highways and in landscapes all over central Ohio.  It may be anecdotal evidence of global warming, but it sure is a very concrete example to me.

Several of my gardening friends and family have asked about putting tender plants out already.  Uh, NO.  It may be in the 60's today, but tomorrow it could snow.  The forsythias haven't even broken bud here and the old adage is that we can expect at least 3 more snows/hard freezes after the forsythias bloom.  So hold your horses there, folks.  I'm desperate for spring too, but temper that with knowledge of the mid-May last frost-free date in central Ohio!