Ms Minna, do you have extended or just brief freezes there? If we are going to have wet snow, I leave things be and only protect (which I've surely lost this year but its always worth a try) my big pot of annual geranium. If it's a dry hard freeze in the forecast indicating temps into the teens for several days, I move pots with young perennials into the carport, sometimes put them on my front porch that is protected on two sides and covered, cover plants racks with plastic (Home Depot clear industrial drum liners work great), or drape things pushed close together with old tablecloths, beach towels and hope the wind doesn't take those....anything to give them a few degrees protection. I had a flat of noble fir seedlings under my car one year :) I had 4x5" pots in racks, many, frozen solid in my carport this year for more than 72 hours (weird winter) and I don't think I've lost any....newly rooting rose and shrub cuttings, many first year perennials. The perennials are frozen back to the crowns in their pots, but I don't have any reason to think dead - are you sure yours are goners? What are they and how cold did it get?

Like carrie630, I check this forum continually, even though I tend to get swallowed up in "Lurkdom" for long periods of time. (Thank you Karen for pulling me out...) My other favorites are: Lilies...Gotta start sharing pics of my beauties on that forum Dahlias...Ditto above Annuals Gardening in Canada (only because climate/season-wise it's a little more similar to my world though still quite different) Far North---Though not nearly FAR enough...lol And I pop into other forums if I get a whim to try to grow something specific such as clematis or when I went through my daylily phase.

Annie, come on over to the Wintersowing forum, you'll find tons of tips from "all us oldies, that have been WS for years now. One of the key important things is to have good soil in those containers. Don't use cheap soil. things like hyponex, or top soil. You end up with some lovely "soil bricks" but no germination. Don't use seed starting mix or anything like garden soil from your own yard or miracle grow garden soil. Seeds won't germinate in them. Don't use any commercial potting mix that has the soil retention pellets in them either. It will soak up soil like a sponge and rot your seeds. I'm one that uses miracle grow potting mix for all my containers and can vouch for the bad soil as well. My first 50 containers, 7 years ago, turned to bricks and not a seed germinated. The remaining 900 containers where done with miracle grow potting mix and everyone germinated. Since then I have had near 100% see germination every year. The real problem is dealing with whatever mother nature wants to throw at us, and being New Englanders, we all know she will throw everything at us and there is no way around it. Since starting to WS 7 years ago, there is barely a plant I have purchased, as I really have no need for them. There is always way more seedlings to plant than I have room for and never fear that if I don't' like something, I will pull it out and give it away. There is always something else to plant in it's place. Marlene, you are going to freeze your gizzards off doing you WS outside in the cold. Terrene is correct too. You will have frozen soil, if it is left outside, and you have to have access to running water to get the soil wet before planting the seeds and putting them out. My kitchen is my WS room. My back door is right there, and as I get the containers done, out the back door they go, out to the backyard inside a chain link fenced area. All containers go directly on the ground and then "mother nature" does her thing, and believe me she has done some real surprises. Yet those WS seedlings are pretty, pretty hardy. I've had them survive floating in 12 inches of rain as the ducks swam beside and around them, attacks of various critters, and they just sprout new stems and branch out before I get a chance to prune any of them. Just as long as we don't get a repeat of last years summer, here are some pics of what you can get from WS. The pics are from 2008 garden beds Almost all annual bed. dianthus firewitch on either side of bird bath, candylily and a perennial lupin in the bed. Ends up looking like this from WS seedlings WS Lupin from 4 years ago foxglove seedlings, hardy ones Turned into this the next year Herb bed from seed, includes, oregano, sage, parsely, 4 types of basil, rosemary, tarragon, dill, chives, garlic chives, tomato seedlings all end up like this Fran

Renee, I look for old sheet music to frame! Found a song with the name of our street in the title, and I picked up some seasonal/holiday music that I change out during the year. So fun! Fori, As for the music "library", I bought an old sheet music cabinet from a neighbor. The condition isn't great, but a word of caution: I think they are intended to hold SHEET music, not books. The shallow drawer bottoms are not solid but slatted, and don't feel super strong. It's cool, but not as easy to use unless you are very organized and know what you keep where. I also have a small metal Bisley 5-drawer unit (from the scratch-and-dent corner at a The Container Store, it's missing the bottom drawer, which leaves an open slot for music) Each drawer has one of those little slots that hold a label, so the jazz goes in one, the video game music printouts in another, etc. and we can find them, and put things away easily. The books are in two large "boxes" beside the piano: one is a sturdy basket, the other used to be a deep kitchen drawer. One sits on the floor under a small table, the basket sits on too of the table, which is just the right size to hold them. The music stands upright and it's easy to flip through. The whole set-up is not that attractive lol! My friend and here husband are both musicians, and they installed cabinetry in the living room for the music. Shelves close together to hold loose paper flat, and shelves spaced for books and binders, as well drawers for metronomes, pens and pencils, instrument tools, etc. The shelves are also attractively labeled to suit their needs; I think it's a removable/movable label. Our piano came after we'd lived here for a couple of years, it is in a corner but it is a great spot! In this living room, only a buffet or console type piece of furniture would work, because it's where you enter the LR from the foyer, so our console piano is perfect.