On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 16:32:03 GMT, escapee
wrote:

On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 09:30:16 -0600, dave weil opined:

I think I read that here in Nashville (Zone 6b), last frost date is
usually considered either 7 or 12 April. For the last couple of years,
I don't remember a frost in April at all. But you never know about
these things. Growing up in Memphis, we got the largest snowfall in
recorded history on April 18th (I think). It was 18 inches back around
'68. I'm sure Nashville got plastered as well. It was a funny thing.
Just this week, we got 7 inches of snow just a hour SOUTH of here.
Nashville got nary a flake.

What hurts us is the late March hard frost that we always seem to get.
It occurs right at the peak of marigold bloomings. Usually screws
things up good, especially since mid-March is usually quite warm.
That's why I usually wait until mid-April to do my serious spring
pruning.

Not all serious pruning should be done in the spring. You may know this, but
some may not. Pruning shrubs and trees which bloom in spring should be pruned
after blooming or you remove the flower buds. Roses can be pruned in February
in the south, or mid-south. I'm not sure about higher north. I never grew
roses up north.

I was only referring to roses. And I was specifically speaking of
spring pruning, which is 99.6% of my rose pruning (with the exception
of the occasional one-off pruning of dead wood or special situation
pruning). The only plant I have that gets pruned after blooming in the
early summer is my Sweet Briar Rose. Everything else I have is either
a climber or more than once blooming. But I wouldn't prune my roses in
mid-February because I'd just have to prune again in April. We have
several deep frosts to go and a few light ones as well. I was just
down to 29 the other night, for example. We'll get a good hard frost
usually in the third or fourth week of March. And I'm in the
"mid-south".

Currently, in my garden things are blooming. Lantana is still blooming in some
spots, yarrow, bluebonnets, catnip, Rosemary...etc. All of the petunias are in
full spread bloom, so are the larkspur.