I'm in zone 6b and just removed them today. The reason was that it was time to transplant some seedlings and direct sow seeds.

LOL MrBlubs, I removed them a couple of weeks ago! The weather has been insanely warm for this time of the year, and things were budding out, so I really did not have a choice.... OK, I did, but I took a chance and it's working out OK!

In previous years, I left them there pretty much until May.

Ha well I guess I'll remove them!

It's a real scorcher today. My pear tree is in bloom and tons of buds have leafed out in the heat!

If we get a major frost I'm blaming you for killing my plants! ;)

I did cleanup last weekend. Everything was coming out like mad so I didn't have much choice in the matter. Even the hostas are poking through.

It was such a mild winter that my type B clematises are budding out on old vine!

Why take leaves off?

SCG, in Calgary, we like to see just stems on our plants. Leaves are so not in, so we take them off as soon as they come out in spring...:-)

Good to "see" you again, guy! I am out of hibernation again....:-)

Hehe, well I don't put anything on my garden I have to take off. That just seems like creating work for myself. Then again I have a whole bunch of free labour that really enjoy to remove mulch. So I guess it wouldn't be so bad.

Good of to see you as well.

If the leaves are one inch or smaller, leave them in the flower beds or work them into the soil. They are good fertiliser. If the leaves are larger, pull them off, they could cause rot or mold and thus damage to your plants. In the fall, use your lawn mower to chop up the bigger leaves and then rake into your flower beds for winter cover and work them into the soil for fertiliser in the Spring.

I did my flower bed clean up last week and then it started to snow. Worried a bit about all the new shoots I exposed, but it didn't really freeze hard and everything seems to be okay. It's always a bit of a risk in the Spring. Can't trust mother nature! :)

I took the leaves out of the garden surrounding my pond last week...left a few stray leaves in there....

Tomorrow I'm going to try and tackle my other garden which has a whole lot of green above the leaves. It's gonna be fun. Would be so much easier if my neighbour's pruned their gigantic trees!

The forecast seems pretty good so hopefully we don't get snow again the first week of May!

Oh yeah, did you hear Calgary is now Zone 4?

My daughter and her husband live in Calgary and he is big into gardening. So, what zone was Calgary before and where did you learn about the change? Maybe my area has changed as well (two hrs southeast of Edmonton).

Calgary has changed to zone 4a on the Canadian hardiness charts but not on the USDA hardiness charts by which nearly every plant is rated on. Don't let it fool you!!!

Awww darn! I read a news article and checked on the Website where it lists the zone to your city.

Such false hope!

LOL that zoning stuff is confusing, right!?

I have been pushing the zone for a few plants over the years and they seem to do OK... well, I guess it still depends on the location, i.e. How much protection there is, as well as the amount of snow cover, and the micro-climate situation.

Don't for a minute think that we can now grow macrophylla hydrangeas here alright??!! LOL!!!

Haha yeah.

I have one zone 4 plant, a blue water iris that's been living outside for 2 years now. I also reluctantly bought a cranberry vanilla honeysuckle aswell which also says zone 4. I have enormous doubts of it surving but we'll see!

Hopefully one day were zone 4! Well not hopefully as global warming is bad but still......hopefully.

MrBlubs, I had never heard of a cranberry vanilla honeysuckle (sounds YUM! LOL) until now - what a beauty it is! I had an Arnold Red honeysuckle before but had to remove it because it was an aphid magnet... hopefully this new one is not! :-)