I have actually thought about that, Orchiddude. My husband and I were talking about such things the other night, like, should we buy a place now to "retire to" at the beach? Or somewhere else? That gave me pause. I thought, how could I move all my plants? Of course, I WOULD. I told him I wouldn't ever move unless the plants could go too. Either to a frost free zone, or another large greenhouse/conservatory. Many of my orchids are mounted and all it would be would be a snip snip and away it goes. Broms can be dug up and stuck in boxes and whisked away. ANthuriums and philos...ditto, just dig and pot. ANy large palm trees might be a problem....I would most likely try to dig them up and take them if possible. But everything that can go, WILL go. When we moved out here to this house from ourhouse in town, it took 5 full loads with a UHAUL truck to get all my plants out here. And that was JUST PLANTS, nothing else, and it was the middle sized truck, not the small one. A friend of mine and I spent all day doing it, over 12 hours. If I die, I plan to will my plants to some Botanical Gardens. If Kanapaha gardens here actually builds the almost $1 million concervatory they have planned, they would be a logical choice. If not, I am not certain. I only know that my husband and daughter have no interest in my plants. Of course, I could always will to FRIENDS (wink wink)

The foilage on the diploids died back and disappeared. The ones on semi-evergreens etc. had some green showing all winter. (maybe a very small fan or right at top of crown). No heat was provided, My house is 8 years old with good insulation: however, I do imagine there is some heat loss especially around door from house to garage. It is a double car garage with 2 doors, each has small glass panes across the top (each 16" x 14" - 8 in total). This was the only light source - no other light or heat provided. My wife used one half to park her car. It is a brick house so I imagine that there is some retention of heat. Don't know how much is lost when she comes and goes. Could monitor temperature next winter. I also overwintered 4 pots outside(3 of the smallest and 1 of the largest pots). I left pots outside until the frost was in the pots (the soil was very hard) and they had stopped growing before I stored them for winter. Did not cover them up, sat them on concrete floor, but also stacked some. I have bought daylilies from one individual who stores large #'s of his inventory in unheated detached garages. He stacks them on top of each other. There is another individual in zone 4 who I buy from that leaves his pots outside. He uses 2 gal pots, places them against his basement wall and covers them with lots of leaves. They average 4 ft of snow during the winter. He also finds that they start to grow before the ones in the ground. He does not ship plants that are in the ground until end of june (lots of snow and to allow them to mature), ships nice mature fans. For example, he left Special Ovation in a pot(evergreen). If he does not sell the plant he then returns it to the garden. He has 6-7000 plants. I imagine using these methods you may loose a couple of plants but from reading the forums it appears that there are losses even when the plant is grown in the ground.(smile). John Kirkland that is in the ground is only now starting to emerge.

I think I've WSown this in the past - my computer crashed this past fall and I lost all my records, but I know I WSed some kind of clary sage mix. I think it was a mix called Claryssa. I did have success with it, and knowing the way I garden in general, I most likely did not cover the seeds - too much work for me! I probably sowed it around late February into March, since this is when I do my annuals, and I think this is an annual. Sorry I can't be more specific, but I really lost a lot when the computer crashed.

Suzuchan, I grow my trees inside a greenhouse, and no I don't light my trees 24/7. Citrus trees, in fact all trees, use sunlight, carbon dioxide from the air, and water from the roots to produce carbohydrates (sugars/starch) during the day light period. Then at night, the tree breaks down the carbohydrates that were manufactured from the previous days buildup, and metabolizes (uses) the sugars as their food source (energy). Therefore, citrus trees require dark periods to do this. Interestingly, no matter how long, or short the dark period is, the tree will always consume 95 percent of the sugars produced the preceding day. For example, when equal day and night periods exist (12 hours each), the tree will use up 95 percent of the carbonates made the previous day and leave 5 percent unused. The same will be true on a 8 hour day and 16 hour night, the tree will still only use up 95 percent of the previous days carbohydrates and leave 5 percent unused. With in reason, no matter what the daylight/dark ratio is this equation will remain the same, always 95 percent and 5 percent. I light my trees from dusk to 10:00PM every night during the winter months. Doing so produces more tree growth, thus more fruit. - Silica