Update on blackberry winter survival (three weeks later)… Uncovered Plants - Black Satin (no winter damage). These were low to ground so maybe some snow protection. - Triple crown (some winter damage) - approx. 20% die back). Seem to have handled the winter fine but some dieback, primarily on the thinner canes). - Ouachita (some winter damage) - approx. 10% die back). Almost no dieback…surprising because I thought they would be less hardy than other erect varieties. - Kiowa (significant winter damage - approx. 75% die back). At first I thought these had overwintered well, but two of the four plants didn’t leaf out and the other two were significantly damaged. This variety has had some health problems over the last two years with (2 of 6 previously dying). Since this year’s crop was a loss and I have had problems with this variety in the past, I decided to replace them with a newer, thornless variety: Von Blackberry. - Prime Ark 45 (significant winter damage - approx. 50% die back). Honestly, some of the dieback may be from the primocane fruiting sections from last fall, but what is left seems to be growing well now. I think I’ll make these a primocane only crop after this season. - Wild Treasure Trailing. In ground planting - left uncovered and plant died back to ground. Potted planting (covered) lost most of its cane length. Given space and effort, not sure this variety is worth keeping. - All raspberries were uncovered and nearly all had no noticeable winter damage. I even had a blackhawk black raspberry and two double gold raspberry plants in pots just sitting in the open and both plants are growing really well and blooming. - I did have two canes on the Cascade Delight raspberry that died during the winter but I believe that was partly due to exposed roots from some soil erosion in their raised bed. Covered Plants. - Black Diamond. I decided to give it a reprieve and let it grow again this year but spray it for cane borers. I had to remove all of last year’s growth due to cane borers but this year it has three times as much growth (e.g. canes) and looks healthy. There’s already a 8” of growth this season and that’s a lot for this variety in my climate. - Siskiyou. No winter damage. Both plants look good and have been putting on amazing growth (well, at least amazing compared to my previous attempts). These second year plants each have 5 or more canes and the cane diameter has doubled since last year. The primocanes are already about ½ inch thick (e.g. diameter) and about 12” in length so far. Yeah! Last year’s growth is getting ready to bloom. - Kotata. No winter damage and the plants are growing new canes. I have 2-3 new canes per each plant and there’s about 6-8” of growth so far. Less vigorous growth from these plantings. - Thorny Boysenberry. The non-potted plants suffered the trifecta of cold weather, cane borers, and voles, so I have maybe 10% of the canes from last year but they are getting ready to bloom. I have had problems with leaf spot on these but I gave them a good lime-sulfur spray treatment this spring, so hopefully this will help. New growth has been outstanding with the cane diameter doubling, much like the Siskiyou blackberries, and there are 8-10 canes per planting with 12-18” of growth already. I’m going to do a better job of protecting these in the winter this year. - Marionberry. I lost about 50% of the cane length from the overwintering period but have learned more about what not to do while preparing them for winter. Plants seem fine but not as vigorous as Siskiyou or Boysen but more vigorous than Kotata. - Loganberry. I lost about 75% of the canes on these from cane borers and the cold. These may be the least cold hardy of the trailing berries that I own. The primocanes are growing vigorously though.

Hi, I WS anything in the cabbage(brassica) family. They all will sprout in cool temps, so you will get an early start with them. Lettuce is the same way. I WS herbs, dill, Amsterdam celery, fennel, hyssop, basil, borage, etc. I have Cilantro come back for me, so it winter sows naturally here. It should be able to be WSed. Rhubarb does really well. Peas are direct sowed early so WSing is not necessary. The ones that I know that have a tendency to rot and not germinate are beans and corn. Squash need to be direct sown or transplanted when there are just a few true leaves. If the plants get too big, they don't recover well from transplanting and can be stunted. Eggplant like warm temps to germinate and grow. So even if it does get warm enough to get germination early, cold temps after germination can stunt growth, so it is best to grow them indoors and transplant when night temps stay above 50. Many people here have success WSing tomatoes. I can't comment on that. I grow them indoors because I keep track of each variety and transplant them into single cells. It just wouldn't work for me to WS them. Hope that helped some : ) Remy

I live in zone 5b, and have just tried Musa Basjoo for the first winter. This has been what I consider an unprecedented success. However I've made some observations. 1) All separated pups died even with protection. All small plants died even with protection. These were up to 3 feet tall at the point winter came. I think the key is to make sure that the plant has tremendous girth when winter comes. I got this effect by purchasing a plant which was already 3-4' tall last spring. 2) a wide mulch "footprint" is better than a "deep and narrow" mulch "footprint". When winter came I cut down my clump (a single main plant 13 feet tall and bunch of pups up to 3 feet tall). I covered this with some of the leaves from the plants, and then about a 5-6' wide pile of straw about 12" deep. This protected the ground quite nicely. I removed this pile in early april, and growth soon resumed. Anyway, now my basjoos are the biggest in town. Everyone elses are about ankle high or so, and mine have leaf tips almost up to my shoulders. Interestling, the main stump (of last year's 13 footer) died, but the biggest pups have telescoped from their bases, growing into strong, healthy sword suckers. I didn't mess with cages or plastic wrap or insulation batting or trash cans or anything- just a nice, low, broad haystack, and I tell you what, I couldn't be happier with what I've gotten. Hope this helps for you if you try it; and I hope it works next year for me and wasn't just a fluke!

Its a very nice needle palm! I think its a great size for $2 dollars so although it may be a little small, it was worth the price. I havent had luck with asking home depot to ship certain plants. I actually went to a home depot away from my location and asked if they could ship a plant to my location, but they said they couldnt and all of their plant shipments are random for the most part. -Alex