Since my time during spring is usually taken up with other folk's gardens, I did a lot of my own gardening work during mild periods in winter. Cleaning up perennial beds, cutting back ornamental grasses and weeding, etc. are all tasks that con be done now without concern for the plants. I also did a fair amount of planting/transplanting during this time :-)

I'd wait to prune roses and clematis or other vines until a bit later - pruning now, especially if budding, can expose vulnerable stem tissue to any additional cold snaps we could still experience and set these plants back a bit. The old saw of "when the forsythia blooms" is an excellent rule of thumb but you can sometimes push that up, weather depending. Pruning of other deciduous trees or shrubs can be done now.

I actually have hellebores blooming now!

I did some clean up but didn't prune the roses or clemmies. It sure was a nice day yesterday.

Since penstemons have a semi woody stem, is it too early to cut back the ratty top growth?

No, go ahead and trim anything you think is ugly.

just saw a forsythia blooming yesterday... just a bloom or two but still.

The crocuses started a couple of days ago. The buds on the roses are swelling. I keep telling them it's too soon, but they don't listen very well.

Even up at 1500 ft I have Hellebores in bloom--but no forsythia yet. Primroses are showing little heads of color, but not yet open. Daffodils are an inch high, muscari leaves are up, some roses in some spots (cl Joseph's Coat, Crown Princess Margarita, Bonica, Rosa Mundi) never lost their green leaves fully.