Hi Jane, cold here too! I've got perennial Chinese Forget-me-Nots (Cynoglossum, not Myosostis) and they are wonderful. Deer don't touch them, ever, never. They bloom for me in mid-late April and stay until around mid-May. Perfect timing with white violets and white tulips. If you'd like, I can send you some plants. They reseed and spread but not invasively. And the blue is true BLUE, not purplish.