If you start cleaning up your flower beds early this year be careful about trimming certain plants to early. One of those are Loropetalums. This is the purple shrubs you have seen all over town. They have a wispy natural look to them and are very hardy. One benefit is they bloom several small pinkish purple flowers in the Spring. However if you trim them to early you will actually be removing most of these blooms and will not get the full effect. Typically by May they are done blooming and can be cut to shape and size you were hoping for. Hope this helps!