Today (March 16) was a big day here in my house (near Albany NY).
Today the crocuses bloomed in my yard- the first blooms of the year!
Finally. And a beautiful sunny day 55F!
And....
my 60 mason bee cocoons arrived today!

All neatly taped in their original cardboard nesting tubes, with arrows showing which end the bees will emerge from.
I have the nesting boxes all ready, but I'm going to wait another couple of weeks because of two factors:
1) we are a
long way from having fruit trees blooming yet...as I said all I'm seeing is a few measley crocuses. Not much for bees to eat and I'm not seeing any other flying insects out much yet either.
2) we are now due for 6 days in the 50'sF and sunny...but that will be followed by another week or two of highs only in the 30's and 40's. After that cold snap the 50's will become the norm.
I don't want my bees to hatch out and have to face cold and nothing to eat.
So I put them safely in the veggie drawer of the fridge to keep them from getting activated yet.
Must be patient just a couple weeks or so longer. :banana: