Late spring freezes/hard frosts after a warm spell can damage just about anything emerging from dormancy regardless of where you are located or even the type of plant. I recall a couple of Easters ago, much of the midwest got zapped by a hard freeze after a fairly mild early spring and the destruction was pretty horrific.

The good news is that trees and shrubs hardy for your zone and well established will typically take it in stride although they can lose their initial leaf flush as well as any flower buds. Light frosts - right around freezing or slightly lower - should not be a problem. In the mid-low 20's (or below -2C) could be an issue.

My experience is in Zone 7, so I hesitate to give advice for your Zone 3 garden. Here, the advice is to begin to remove winter mulches gradually, as we do get late frosts and freak snowfalls occasionally. (The average last frost date here is April 30.)

The plants will come up, mulch or no mulch. The thing I get concerned about is garden hygiene - one key aspect of preventing pests and diseases in the coming season. Any debris that is prone to blackspot, powdery mildew, etc, is removed from my garden in the autumn, before the tree leaves fall if possible, so they don't get buried, and is discarded rather than composted. Similarly, to reduce the chance of iris borer infestation, old iris leaves should be removed - here, that should be done by April 1.

It's really difficult to prevent bud loss high on a shrub or tree due to a late freeze, sometimes you just have to accept it and wait for next year. If there is something you really look forward to, you could try a frost cover (I have one rated to 27 degrees F). Or do as a Florida friend of mine does - he moves his Christmas lights over to his favorite tender shrubs and if a freeze is imminent, he throws a sheet/blanket/tarp/whatever over the budding shrub and turns the lights on ... It looks strange, but is just enough to save the buds.

I would not remove the mulch till after frost danger. Removing it allows the ground to warm up more quickly which may cause other tender things to emerge only to be killed back by frost. If you get a freeze, you'll lose this years flowers on the trees but the tree should survive.

Thanks for all the responses!

I guess I'll have to be patient then!

So far the temp hasn't been below - 2 and everything seems fine. It snowed yesterday but everything seemed to brave through.

Thanks again