Umm, no. You posted this Friday, April 9, at 12:00 So dh spent about 4 hours yesterday morning putting up wood stakes around each tree and took gigantic, thick, black contractor trash bags and placed them over the stakes so they didnt come into contact with the trees. So the trees were covered Thursday morning. The Weather Channel reports Thursday's weather in Cassadaga as: April 8 Actuals 72°F 42°F 0.42 in. It's not that I really want to make a big deal about this, but consider it a learning experience. I've spent a lot of time over the years trying to convince people that there are significant differences between roses and tomato plants. I've never before met anybody who seemed equally confused about the difference between a maple tree and a tomato plant :-) Basically, while pure water freezes at 32 °F, if you start putting stuff in the water, like salt or alcohol, the freezing point gets lower and lower. Hardy plants put various sugars in the water so they can stand below freezing temperatures. Snow isn't an issue unless it's so heavy that mechanical breakage becomes a problem. According to my car, it can snow any time the temperature is below 40°F. It can definitely snow at temperatures well above damaging cold. To put this in some perspective, I keep a bunch of roses in pots in the garage because they would not handle my winter temperatures outside. When they go out in the spring, they are usually about 2-3 weeks ahead of roses in the ground, and used to conditions considerably warmer. In other words, they are going from about zone 8 to zone 5. They handle freezing temperatures just fine, and I only bother bringing them back inside for forecast lows below about 27°F. That's to give some wiggle room in case it really goes below about 25°F. For something I expect to be fully hardy here, like a tree, I wouldn't start worrying unless it got noticably colder than that.

Andy, I'm covering mine Sunday. The forecast is supposed to be cold, barely above freezing if at all for the next week, so I have to worry about the ground starting to freeze. At least we dodged all of that snow Chicago got! I plan to incorporate part of a solar cover from our pool in my structure, which will boost daytime temps, and hopefully insulate some to keep nighttime temps up too. I'm definitely putting up a burlap screen. Mine looks really rough due to the strong wind from yesterday when the cold front moved in. Good luck with yours, and keep rope lights in mind. They give off a lot of heat, and are rubber coated for protection.

Thank you Kms2 and Jandey! I got plenty of sheets so I just need to get some clothes pins or clips. We're looking at a few nights in the low 40's. It has been raining on and off all day today and barely reaching 60s. So this AM I have moved all my babies (new rooted plants) inside where they will remain through this cold/wet spell. The medium sized plants are safely stored inside the two storage units on the balconies. All I have left are the larger 5-7 Gal plants... and they are all huddled under the covered portion of the balcony. I will cover them w/ a blanket... wish I had some xmas lights to warm them up though. But everything is in storage. Fingers crossed that it doesn't dip below 40!

Haha I thought there would be neutering naysayers! I thought it was purely anecdotal myself but several of my vets over the years have started talking about it too so why risk it if you can wait. I also watched my friend's dog go through bone cancer and it was horrible and he was fixed early. We waited as long as possible, I think we made it to almost a year. We were living in the city at the time and so he went to dog daycare during the day as you cannot leave that kind of dog locked up all day at all- they can't ever be crated or tethered, they would go crazy. All was going well until one day the daycare owner who absolutely loved him said it was time for the chop- he had started a 40 dog brawl at daycare that day! Oops! No one was hurt though luckily. As soon as he was fixed he went right back to being sweet and playful with everyone. I will say he does not like other big dominant males that much, canine or human lol. He will do some bluff charging but I have never seen any actual aggression or fighting. We still take him to daycare once a week or so he can have fun and socialize. It's good that you have a busy household Laura, he will get used to lots of people coming and going which is good. When you are home alone he will be on guard which I personally love. He seems to be way more relaxed when dad is at home. The bell idea is so cute I love it! Potty training was easy I think he will get the hang of it quickly. We feed him raw food. He never agreed with kibble and we tried all of it, including the high end grain free. He had constant diarrhea or just soft poops until we switched to raw and instantly they because perfect. We buy chicken carcasses by the bag from a local butcher and he eats one frozen or half thawed per day plus about 2 cups of commercial raw food that has some veggies shredded and mixed in. I also make him rice or potatoes once or so a week plus he eats all of our dirty eggs- not raw but cooked. For such a big dog he really doesnt have a big appetite, he just eats enough and then moves on even if there is food left in the bowl. Good thing his piggy sister is always hungry! He is not food aggressive at all, he lets her eat out of the bowl at the same time he is. Do you have cats? I can't remember. Beau is insanely jealous of the cats getting any attention from us for some reason. Maybe because they are boy cats? Or maybe because he is secretly afraid of them lol?