gt4889: This is pretty much a judgment call, and a close one at that. I would guess you have rabbiteye or southern highbush varieties if they are that close to bloom. My personal experience with blueberry blossoms is that they are pretty tough before fully opened, but whether or not yours will be damaged depends on whether it really gets down to 26F, how long it stays there, and whether or not there is any wind. A cold, dead calm night is the worst. Personally, I wouldn't bother covering them. You might lose a few. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Hi azponder, I'm not sure what species that is, but I've had the same problem. (Tonight it's *snowing* here!) A few people were quite helpful with my questions, so maybe one of them will answer your post, too. Until then maybe this will help - When the cactus here keeled over I got some cardboard to prop them up with. The cactus without any pads just got a long triangle shape of cardboard wrapped all around it and held in place at the bottom with rocks. The prickly pear type cactus with pads was a bit trickier. I placed a little cardboard under the cactus pads and then stuck tree branches (which I cut into a Y shape with the very long bottom part of the Y being stuck in the ground and the "V" part of the Y propped under the cactus) under that. The cardboard was so the branch/prop won't poke into the cactus pad. I'd just pruned those tree branches, but luckily they are strong enough to use to prop up our cactus. (Cactii?) It's not a long-term solution, but maybe one you can try it with a few of your cactus "branches" that are closer to the main body of the cactus? You might have to cut off the ones that were frozen. I did with the ones that got frozen and mushy before we got proper 'freeze fabric' to cover everything with. You might want to check out the thread where I was asking for help with my cactus, here - http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/azgard/msg0117433029241.html?6 Good luck with everything :) C.

Tyler - Commonly, each species of plant has a general range of cold-hardiness. Within species and cultivar, cold-hardiness is genetically determined. That is to say that a plant propagated from cuttings or tissue culture will have the same ability to resist cold as the parent plant - no more (or less). Your trees cannot "develop" a greater degree of cold-hardiness or be "conditioned" by repeated or prolonged exposure to cold, even after 100 years. GG - Chill injury and freezing injury are different. Chill injury can occur in some plants at temperatures well above 40*. The same cells in the same plant can also vary significantly in their ability to resist freezing injury. Cells that are chilled rapidly or cells that have lost some of their cold-hardiness due to soil temperatures high enough to have stimulated the plant to growth will be far less able to withstand sub-freezing temps; so trees are most susceptible during cold snaps after a warm period - and especially if it came on when sap was rising. Simply put, it's very likely it got cold enough that the plasma membranes of cells essential to the transport of water and solutes through xylem tissues were destabilized when they froze. As a result the plant became unable to adequately move water and affected tissues succumbed to dehydration. BTW - turgid (water-filled) cells are less resistant to chill or freezing injury, so a well-hydrated plant is not a particularly good thing when cold threatens. It is better to allow your plants (young or old) to remain on the dry side, even mildly drought stressed in the winter if you are concerned about freezing. Roots don't need nearly the moisture levels in winter to keep the top hydrated .... just don't let the roots dry out completely. Al

Just got the following from emai list of Tony Avent at Plant Delights Nursery in NC - should be helpful: Dear PDN'ers: Greetings from Plant Delights, where after two weeks of late spring weather, we have once again plunged back into the grip of winter. For nurserymen, it is the month of April that results in the most premature grey hair accompanied by high blood pressure due to the worry about late spring frosts. After two weeks of temperatures in the 80's, a cold front has once again gripped our area, with predictions of five consecutive nights of freezing temperatures and lows of 24-26 degrees F, which will shatter our old low temperature records for most of those dates. Wheres global warming when you really need it? Since we havent uncovered the overwintering greenhouses yet, the containerized nursery plants are fine, other than causing some heating bills that we could have done without. Our primary concerns are for plants in the display garden, where some arisaemas are in full flower and early hostas are in full leaf. Our crew has spent over 24 man hours covering tender vegetation with spun-bound polyester frost fabric (Im glad nursery folks never got the memo that polyester went out of fashion). Frost cloth is made for this purpose and can offer several degrees of protection for tender plants in just such a situation. The key to how much damage we will see is a combination of how cold the temperatures drop and how long they stay there. Typically, frost clothes can offer protection down to about 27 degrees F, but below that, cold injury could still occur. There is also the issue of trees and shrubs that have already developed spring growth. While these are virtually impossible to protect with frost cloth, they can be very sensitive to frost damage. Japanese maples are one of many trees that are particularly sensitive and can be killed outright by late spring freezes when they are at a susceptible stage of growth. In such cases, there are really only two options for protection. One is the application of irrigation, which, while the water is freezing actually releases heat that protects the plants. This technique is most commonly used on field grown crops such as strawberries. The downside is that water must be applied at the proper rate and the application must continue continuously until the temperatures rise above freezing. The other option is to rent kerosene space heaters and simply heat up the night air around the plant. This is similar to the smudge pots that are used in Florida orange orchards when frosts are imminent. These heaters can usually be rented from stores who specialize in the rental of construction equipment. If you would like to know more of the technical details about water application to protect plants, the following NCSU website is quite useful: http://www.smallfruits.org/Weather/frost_freeze.htm .