Having retired at the end of summer, I had the time to do more thinning and moving plants; therefore, I had visions of a whole new look. Now that we are still struggling through this cold, cold winter, I am only looking forward to seeing what has survived. Probably dead already--oleander, ardisia and a citrus tree (I like pushing zones). However, for all of these casualties there is a spot where I can put a new plant. I am not good at shovel pruning or deleting plants so Mother Nature has done it for me.

I think it is going to be a gorgeous spring! (when it finally arrives...). All the snow we got = lots of moisture for the spring bloomers and the plants overall = lots of blooms and lush foliage. Plus, the fruit trees (apples, pears, cherries) always seem to flower better after a good cold winter, as long as we don't get a killing frost as the buds are opening it should be quite a show.

Or, maybe it will just *seem* to be a stupendous spring after this whopper of a winter...LOL! (it's nuts -- 55 degrees one day, record-breaking low temp of 1 degree the next)

I'll tell you - anything that can survive in this harsh winter we've had I will never question the hardiness of again. If those Japanese maples can survive the sub-zero temps and brutal winds we had in January without being protected, well, then - they just really don't need any coddling from this point onward.

...and it can't come too soon if you ask me!

I winter sowed some seeds the past few weeks so I'll have some "free" hardy perennials to plunk wherever there's an empty spot in my garden beds, either as a result of the harsh winter or else the deer that have finally found my garden.

I agree with mxk3 - spring will be lovely this year thanks to all the snow that fell. Even now my acre of lawn is blanketed with the white stuff that has frozen over the past few weeks. A year ago I could take pictures of my Hellebore/Lenten roses in bloom by now. This year they're all buried under a couple feet of frozen snow.

I take a pretty philosophical approach to gardening--if it survives a drought with no help from me, it's a keeper. If it survives catastrophic weather events (like we did here in CT in late 2011), it's a keeper. If it's been planted & growing here for 50+ years without my help... then yeah, it's a keeper.

I also had mental images along with what I drew in a sketchbook of what I envisioned my garden beds would look like after I moved here. Well, at least they're shaped the way I saw them in my head.

I predict spring to continue with vigor through April and May as we had hardly any freezes this winter here in beautiful Southern California.

Clematis and Jacob's Coat Rose

Have had a persistent snow cover here since November; great for all our herbaceous perennials.

As stated above, with a lot of snow, there's also going to be lots of melt water for the flower beds.

So we're ready to welcome the snowdrops.