I am pretty content with the portion of the garden that provides fall interest. We also have a lot of shrubs that have berries for the winter.

I've thought about adding conifers at times. I always end up backing off, with the concerns of the weight of snow in the winter and hardiness. Last spring especially, I saw a lot of very sad posts on the conifer forum about some major losses a few people had. I also have a few items, like Ilex 'Sky Pencil' that I end up having to tie up so the snow cover won't damage them, and I just don't want to add more of those chores.

I imagine there are some that would overcome those issues. I was considering Mugo Pine because they do seem to have a few hybrids that stay smaller, but they are on the expensive side too. I haven't really done a focused investigation of all my options, but when I did a little bit of that, I ended up going toward hollies and buxus that fit my needs more.

I am actually looking to make different kinds of changes to my front perennial garden, again. We put in another lasagna bed extension, this Fall, in preparation for enlarging it in the spring. That will require moving almost every plant in the bed. I made a decision to add more vegetables in the front and I needed more room. We also have a small rock edge along the street that we will need to extend too.

We already made a large change to the vegetable garden in the back this past spring, that tripled our growing space which we really enjoyed this summer. I will continue to make a few adjustments there in the spring to fit that new area into the surrounding landscape a little more.

That's about it for me. It's not really a major project and we have others that would qualify as major that I don't know when I will get to.

It's really funny how much I end up changing the garden. I never expected to constantly be tinkering with it. I was certainly wrong about that. [g]

This post was edited by prairiemoon2 on Mon, Nov 3, 14 at 13:19

Looking at my fall garden, I am realizing I do not want any more Mammoth or Belgium Mums. They are lovely, but take up entirely too much room and break down in a high wind or rain..
I'm finally realizing I don't need as much space for vege garden, and will finally take my kids advice and not plant as much next year.
I lost 2 trees this year and don't have enough shade to grow hostas where they are now, so I killed a little grass to make room for them where I do have a little shade left.
I'm thinking about taking out 2 butterfly bushes, they have gotten so big and are crowding other things I would rather have.
Looking back, I realize in the 47 years I have gardened, there have been lots of changes, about the only things that haven't been shifted around are peonies.

Looking at my fall garden, I am realizing I do not want any more Mammoth or Belgium Mums. They are lovely, but take up entirely too much room and break down in a high wind or rain..
I'm finally realizing I don't need as much space for vege garden, and will finally take my kids advice and not plant as much next year.
I lost 2 trees this year and don't have enough shade to grow hostas where they are now, so I killed a little grass to make room for them where I do have a little shade left.
I'm thinking about taking out 2 butterfly bushes, they have gotten so big and are crowding other things I would rather have.
Looking back, I realize in the 47 years I have gardened, there have been lots of changes, about the only things that haven't been shifted around are peonies.

(" Any changes you plan to make?") Aren't there always???LOL!!! Most areas I am quite happy with but I did redo a couple of small areas that were less than stellar. Then came the BIG job of digging out a section of Lily of the Valley about 35' x 12'. Sorry all you L. of the V. fans ,but it was getting into my Hostas and that is just not O.K. There were small Elm saplings, Rubus odoratus (which I like just not there), it was a hideous section. Now it has been planted with many hostas plus Trillium luteum, Hepatica a., Sanguinaria c. and Polygonatum c. Boy am I happy that huge job is done.

I am surrounded by forest on 3 sides so I do not do conifers in the garden. I rely on Ornamental grasses, and an arbor that has large vines that provide winter interest. There are some perennials that I leave the flower stalk on but not many (big believer in fall clean up) I think few of us plant a garden and never make changes. I am already eye-balling another area that needs work. See what I mean. LOL!!!

I did this sort of re-evaluation in my old garden about 10 years ago. It was not prompted so much by increasing fall or winter interest - it already contained a bunch of evergreen or late season perennials - but more as an attempt to reduce maintenance. A garden that was primarily devoted to a big collection of perennials was just becoming more work than I had time or energy for.

So I decided to purge those perennials that had the least appeal, the shortest season of attractiveness or that just required too frequent attention (spreading too aggressively, needing frequent division, staking, etc.). And I replaced them with a selection of smaller shrubs, both evergreen and deciduous, and dwarf conifers. In fact, I got so wrapped up in the world of dwarf conifers, I started collecting them. Excellent garden workhorses requiring minimal attention.

Now that I no longer have a big garden....or much of a garden at all.......I still have this attraction to dwarf conifers and grow a large number of them, mostly in containers.

I still grow perennials in my tiny inground garden but I am very careful in their selection. Nothing that spreads too vigorously - no room for those thugs! - and nothing that is too much of a one week wonder (still heavy into the 'evergreen' perennials). And it has to be attractive to my year round hummingbirds!

I've been adding evergreen and deciduous shrubs and dwarf conifers for a while now--called a mixed border. It started for Winter interest but now I've fallen in love with shrubs (evergreen and deciduous) and conifers. I'm always on the lookout for more that will work! As GG says, less maintenance but a lot of bang for your buck.

I want to take out a chunk of lawn at one end of the yard and make a spot for a small tree grove....then I noticed a different area I'd never considered planting (lawn at present) that'd be great for conifer/shrub only bed..come on Spring!

There are so many gorgeous woody plants out there and I'll be dedicating special beds just for them as I'm running out of room in the established borders. Less lawn is better.

I have lots of perennials that are heeled in till next year when I can see their habits/shapes/bloom colors in person. It looks a little congested in some areas now. I'll be on another planting frenzy, just more permanent this time.

In walking around the yard, I'm really enjoying the leaf color changes--so gorgeous! Even my oriental lily foliage is a rich, bright golden color and a beacon from my kitchen sink window! No killing freeze yet!

Flowergirl, I havenâÂÂt purchased any of those particular Mums, but I have a few that have been really great. They seem to stay attractive a long enough time to satisfy me and havenâÂÂt become too large or spread too much. Most of them are just ordinary mums I bought potted in the Fall and took a chance and planted them. I do prune them back the end of June though to keep them compact.

Pereni.all, I sympathize with having to dig out unwanted thugs. ItâÂÂs a job I never look forward to and would rather double dig my vegetable beds any day of the week, than do that. Your newly planted Hosta area sounds very pretty and actually lower maintenance too.

GardenGal, you are so lucky to have year round hummingbirds. IâÂÂve seen a hummingbird in my garden about 3 times in 30 years, so I am very jealous. :-) IâÂÂd love to hear, more about what perennials you stuck with and which small shrubs and conifers you have found were low maintenance for you, when you made your change over.

IâÂÂve started doing some of the same for the past couple of years. This year, I pulled out a number of perennials and planted a trio of Blueberry bushes with some Arctostaphylus as a ground cover around them. IâÂÂve been testing different ground covers for years and that one does the best in my conditions. There will still be daffodils and Hellebores there in the spring and IâÂÂm planning on moving some Mums next spring to the edge of that bed, for fall color. IâÂÂm pretty satisfied with that and I think it will be a lot less maintenance for me and still provide seasonal interest, but I still have a few areas to work on, so IâÂÂm always looking for new ideas.

Prairiemoon, I kept those perennials that were either evergreen in my climate or were just too appealing to do without :-) Euphorbias, heuchera, Cape fuchsia, various species iris (many are evergreen), penstemon, sedums, various carex, ferns and hellebores in the shadier areas. And any bulbs. Also a lot of subshrubs........lavender, hebes, helianthemums, some heathers.

I added dwarf pieris, daphne, sarcococca, dwarf nandina, Osmanthus 'Goshiki', dwarf weigela, fothergilla, hydrangeas, pittosporum, a few roses I couldn't live without (PNW is not an ideal rose climate). And a dwarf ceanothus that turned out to be not very dwarf.......he got removed the third year when he hit about 6'x6'! As to the conifers........boy, almost any dwarf conifer will work and pretty much every genus has them. Pines, cryptomeria, spruce. But my faves are the false cypress, Chamaecyparis spp. Lots of choices there and I still have about a dozen different ones, mostly grown in containers.

Just a word of caution - not all of these plants will be zone appropriate for much of the country, especially the broadleaf evergreens, but there are other alternate hardier choices that can work. Boxwood, Euonymus fortunei (if not problematic in your area), Japanese holly. Blueberries can be a great addition to mixed border - I use them in designs that way frequently. And there is a dwarf conifer suited for any garden!

You have some of my favorites that I havenâÂÂt had luck growing. Two Euphorbias I tried, did not make it through the winter. I love their different colors and textures of foliage. Wish I could try the Cape Fuchsia, but not hardy here. IâÂÂve tried lots of heuchera and they survive but they donâÂÂt thrive for me. Either my soil is heavier or drier than they like.

Sedums are great. Love Ferns and Hellebores, both so easy and in the shade, I've added a few Hostas I enjoy and they couldn't be easier. Lavender is not my friend. I havenâÂÂt tried the hebes or helianthemums or the heathers yet, so I should think about trying those. Love penstemons, but they peter out on me. Have you found a Carex that you really like?

Pieris, I love and have tried them twice but they didnâÂÂt work out. Daphne, Sarcococca, Nandina, Osmanthusâ¦not sure they would be hardy here in z6. I know they use them on the Cape near me, but they are z7. I have dwarf Weigela âÂÂMidnight Wineâ and that has worked out well and couldnâÂÂt be easier. Are there other dwarf Weigelas that youâÂÂve tried?

I really enjoy roses too and I keep experimenting with easy care roses. I added five more in the spring and IâÂÂm happy with them so far. Next year will tell the tale for most of them. I have had a âÂÂJulia Childâ for awhile that is really dependably healthy and easy.

IâÂÂm sure I will keep checking out the conifers again. You donâÂÂt really have to deal with snow or hardiness there, so that again is a really good fit for you.

IâÂÂm looking forward to the Blueberries filling in and perhaps providing a crop too. They have really great fall color right now.

Great ideasâ¦thanks. :-)

Cushion spurge, Euphorbia polychroma, is very hardy. Try that one. 'Bonfire' has good coloring to the foliage. Heucheras should do well also - if you can grow hellebores, you can grow heuchs :-) They are happy in much the same condtions. I like most of the Carex, especially C. morrowii 'Aureovariegata' and the bronze sedges - testacea, buchananii, etc. - but the bronze may not work in your climate.

And I think more of the shrubs would work for you than you think. Nandina, the osmanthus, daphne and Sarcococca hookeriana are all listed to zone 6 so borderline but doable with mulching. You can grow the helianthemum and the heather (Calluna vulgaris) but forget the hebe.....that just won't work for you. Also consider one of the dwarf forms of Abelia, like 'Kaleidoscope. MOBOT lists it to Z5.

And most dwarf conifers are extremely cold hardy -- zone 5 at least, many lower. Chamaecyparis thyoides is native to the east coast, has lots of dwarf selections and many turn a purplish color in winter. And snow tends not to be an issue with most of the dwarfs.....they are much more shrub-like than tree form, many just rounded lumps:-)

I gave my container orange tree away. (Does that count?) I felt that it'd be happier in the ground so I gave it to someone who has 1/4 acre and is a landscaper. I decided that I didn't want to spend 5 years' worth of precious water HOPING to get a few oranges. It definitely got a good home.

Last fall I announced I was very dissatisfied with my established perennial bed. This year I just neglected it: pulled plants then let them lie in the paths; "forgot" to water and weed areas.

This season I concentrated on a new woodland garden, and enjoyed choosing spots for conifers, dividing groundcovers, inspecting different ferns.

I realized last week that I wasn't just dissatisfied with the old perennial bed; I was thoroughly bored with it. I am bored with the perennials and tired of thinking about the timing of blooms, heights, contrast, whether this goes with that, whether bugs like it or ignore it, its pruning needs. Whatever could be done to a plant or for a plant I've done it, many many times over. Feeling obligated to maintain something that doesn't engage me is not a rewarding way to garden.

I am sorely tempted to tear it out, move the patio out there and plant shade trees around the house. Perhaps I will.

If I didn't garden with trees and shrubs I might as well not garden. They provide variety colors, texture, depth over seasons and years. Trees and shrubs aren't just "bones" they are living sculptures that animate the garden and imagination. Go buy a slow growing golden Chamaecyparis as an antidote to design inertia and sleepy imagination. It re invigorates a garden vision.
idabean/Marie

This post was edited by idabean on Tue, Nov 4, 14 at 21:27

I do most of my evaluating at other times of the year.If I am evaluating now, in fall,, it is while running mad circles with pots and a pick axes in my hands.Last spring I decided to make a drift of agaves coming through this line of mountain ash junipers, I wanted to start opening up a bed on the far side of the house/shop., and redo the sorry@ss soil by my stone walkway. I need to take the MARL out and replant plants. The fall and winter is for gardening and land restoration. It is major work, a time of action. I also need to clear under brush on an acre and a half before my tax deadline and make a report on the wildlife preserve actions.. I have not stopped digging holes every day. today I planted three agave ovatafolias in a rocky slope of marl,, I also dug in two salvias, one Anisacanthus linearis,, two Verbascum thapsis, dear grass, bear grass, 3 blue stems,2 Salvia balotiflora, 2 Salvia melissodora, 1 salvia Henry duelberg. I adzed in 2 quart bags of liatris seeds, and 4 quarts of Blanket flower seed, , some Menzelia decapetela seed, Callirhoe alcaeoides seed.

While planting seed up on by a wash that comes down off the back hill, I found a indian flint scraper. I live on a hill that has been known for its high quality flint for thousands of years. I heard from an archaeologist that The flint has been found as far away as in Mayan digs. It was a known trade item. the tool was still sharp.It was not a finally made tool, a disposable implement. That has me all excited. I find chips but never a tool. That was today.

Yesterday I planted 3 agave portrerana, 4 red scutelarias, 6 scutellaria drumundi, 12 blue stem seedlings, 2 5 gallon Muhlenbergia dudbioides, a bird of paradise, an arroyo sweet wood tree, 2 brittle bushes,. It has been like this every spare moment for a month. I have about 10 more plants to go and then it is too brush clearing. The plant swap was huge.

OOOOH , I forgot, I need to bring in some rock to make a bed on the south side of the house for my Z9 plants. I am too tired. I think I will do that in the spring and keep the plants protected over the winter. This is just too much. I am not a retired person. Jostling this and work is overwhelming.If I close my eyes, more things that I have not gotten to pop up.

At the top of my list is evaluating my hydrangeas - particularly All Summer Beauty - that didn't bloom at all due to last winter. But if we continue to have harsh winters, these things just take up far too much space with no rewards. So after reading all of these wonderful posts, I might consider researching dwarf conifers - or at least another variety of hydrangeas. My entire garden is underneath oak trees - so no full sun for me. Even my oak leaf hydrangeas might be on the chopping block - so unhappy about that. But who knows - next season might be totally different. I guess that's the joy of gardening!

The major change I'm planning to make next year is replacing the swaths of pachysandra I have running along a 3 x 60' border on the edge of the property. It's just reading a bit too 'office/industrial complex' to me, perhaps because it appears so often around commercial properties in the area. Planning to replace it with sweet woodruff and various perennials I should hopefully have ready to plant out in the spring from winter sowing.

Gardening is an ongoing activity, is it not?

You may be satisfied with it one day then the next day you want to change something.

I have been reevaluating my garden throughout the 28 years we have lived in this house.

This spring I was so very happy with it, but I still moved things around and removed others as the season progressed.

For years I had tried for a succession of blooms from early spring until fall. Then I discovered the book Year- Round Garden by Adrian Bloom. He suggested adding ornamental grass, evergreens, barks and stems to extend the growing season into fall and winter instead of focusing only on spring and summer interests.

{{gwi:281245}}

Based on that reading, I gradually added evergreens such as Yucca filamentosa, conifers both miniatures and full grown, yews, and interesting barks/stems such as Red Twig/Yellow/Orange Twig Dogwood, colorful Willows and a River Birch 'Little King'. But after years of growing them, some miniatures turned out to be bigger than expected. The willows have grown too big for my garden. And I was beginning to get tired of some ornamental grass. So I am gradually removing them from my garden.

I was getting tired of Hydrangea 'Annabelle', so I dug up 4 huge clumps of it. I still have another clump that I am considering removing altogether.

I was getting tired of plants with small leaves and have turned to plants with large leaves as focal points. So in more large leaf hosta.

In recent years, I began to grow more and more vegetables. This year, I had a bumper crop of tomatoes, and beans. I also planted potato for the first time. I had never tasted potato as sweet as the one I grew myself.

I will still move things around, removing and adding, but all in all it has been a satisfying year.

*Edited to correct typo*

This post was edited by pitimpinai on Thu, Nov 6, 14 at 13:33

GardenGalâ¦thanks, IâÂÂll try âÂÂBonfireâÂÂ. That is not one of those IâÂÂve tried yet. I have the Carex buchanii which seems to be hardy enough here. I enjoy the brown grasses.

Thanks for the other shrub recommendations. Nice to have a focus to search rather than randomly looking at lists for conditions and hardiness zones. :-)

Grossepointe, I have Summer Beauty too and no blooms all summer either. One that did manage to push out a few blooms, was Madame Emile Mouillere. IâÂÂm enjoying that one. Pretty white mop head blooms with a blue point in the center. Nicely shaped shrub with fall foliage color.

Paniculatas that bloom later in the summer, also donâÂÂt have the issues with frost killing the buds either.

I have Oakleaf Hydrangeas and IâÂÂm enjoying mine. In a dry dry summer, they have not looked as nice, but most of the time, they look very good. Right now the fall color is great. Mine do get morning sun though.

Pitimpinai, I got rid of two Annabelles as well and I planted the Madame Emile Mouillere in itâÂÂs place which so far, I am happy with. I have no more Annabelles.

Photos of your vegetable garden?

I agree with you, pitimpinai, i've been evaluating my garden for over 20 years. some parts of it i like. other parts, i would like to change. lately, i've been thinking of redoing parts of the front entranceway. on one side, we have a row of "Incrediball" hydrangeas. i love these. On the other side though, it's a mix mash of plants. no clear definition. i'd like to dig up what's there and maybe add some groundcover roses. I'll have to do some research to see what varieties are hardy in our zone 5 garden. i think it's important to re-evaluate your garden. things change every year. that's the fun of gardening, i think.

Grief, I have landed on this thread over a dozen times, desperately trying to wring some vague sense of evaluation or re-evaluation. There seems a lot of it about but not in the Campanula household which is more or less, floundering. To be fair, floundering in November is usually infinitely more enjoyable than floundering in April. I too attempted 'all year round gardening' for a couple of years before concluding that winter gardening is best done at a kitchen table - a haven of peace and sanity I am keen to return to asap. In my defence, I have spent the last 3 days hacking back gigantic roses which I have shamefully neglected. Worse, I have threaded and wound the massive canes of 7 monster roses (those which grow 30 feet in a season such as ayreshires and wichurana ramblers), round, and back, to and fro along the tomato supports and sweet pea nets but mostly through each other for the last 4 years resulting in an impenetrable sleeping beauty type monstrous briar patch. My allotment neighbours have been giving me meaningful scowls so I am moving these prickly giants to the woods which means eviscerating miles and miles of vicious tangled canes. I return home, numb and bleeding, unable to manage a single coherent thought I exist in a permanent now of ripping, rending, pain and torment.

Maybe after the weekend......

LOL!! That wore me out just reading it! That's why I opted to go low maintenance.........and I didn't even have a large garden (just very densely planted) nor wildly gigantic, thorny roses to deal with.

As to gardening in winter, no thanks. Even in my very mild maritime climate, it's much nicer to sit indoors on a dank and wet day like today and enjoy the view of my garden in late fall through the warm and dry side of my windows.

I'll do winter garden visits for clients, but they pay me. Big difference :-)

After this past winter I've actually given up on most evergreens due to the deer and most years being buried under snow not to be seen anyway. I've tried different varieties over the last years but I'd like low maintenance, and if I have to trudge out every once in a while to spray for the deer it kind of defeats the purpose. I go more for large shrubs and trees for structure and when the snow falls their form is beautiful. We do have a number of dwarf Alberta spruce scattered around and a few other evergreens, but not nearly what I had expected to wind up with in the gardens. I wish I could force myself to persevere and keep trying because there are gorgeous dwarf conifers out there very drool-worthy.

I've always gardened with fall in mind. This year the color was spectacular and it is still going! Winter......oh well, I tried....but alas I get used to seeing white all winter long! Good thing we get a long dose of screaming color before that!

Agree with all of the above that fall is a natural time for assessment. Once again the structure of the gardens is revealed and you have to settle in and get used to that view for several months now.

Fall is also a checkpoint of sorts - did you have ongoing interest from spring until now? What sort of fall cleanup are you facing? (that's a driving motivator for me)

I've definitely fallen for the dwarf evergreens. Last year I added a weeping spruce which isn't exactly dwarf but it is narrow. I love it so far, it adds just the type of interest and texture that I was craving. I also put several dwarf spruces, 'Waldbrunn' along our front sidewalk. This year I added one more, a little Norway spruce called 'Pusch' that makes cool little cones on the tips of the branches. I have my eye on several more but they are expensive little suckers, so they aren't your average garden center impulse buy.

So far my fall checkpoint has told me that I made great progress over the summer. Fall cleanup is usually a depressingly huge chore. And then it bleeds over to spring cleanup which is even worse. But this year I got the biggest areas already done after just one afternoon of easy work. That is unprecedented and encouraging!

Still more to go though... note to self, do not leave it for spring! Spring is for skiing! Get it done NOW. :)

Reading campanulas thread about rambling roses makes me think of all the well meaning worried looks and wrinkled foreheads of the na-sayers & doubters who gaze in obvious criticism upon my many cactus plants and ask how I deal with all those stickers as if I am a crazy person who has a love of pain. Having dealt with both plants, I'd take dealing with cactus any day, all you need is tweezers as opposed to bandages and heavy bleeding. We have an acreage south of the city that has a wooded area that has been overtaken with rambling roses making it dangerous and a lot of work just to walk though it as you look for ways to get from one spot to the next. It reminds me of the Disney movie Sleeping Beauty and the evil spell cast by the witch who surrounded the castle with a forest of thorns.

In short camps, my hat is off to you because that sounds like one horrid job making a sissy cactus grower look like piker by comparison in the pain department. We must really love certain plants to put up with such ordeals.
Agaves will draw blood but they don't ramble so at least you can watch your step fairly easily.

There is a serious arctic front headed our way next week from the typhoon. Here we sit, completely unprepared with trees still wearing their green leaves, most of them not even thinking of going dormant yet are getting ready to be hit hard by January temperatures. Indian summer will turn into deep winter overnight. Maybe the leaves will just fall off and there will be no colors this fall? The shock value may have me reevaluating many things come spring. We had this happen once before, a blast of bitter cold which hit before plants had a chance to harden off. Even the crepe myrtles got knocked down the the ground and had to start over from the roots. Frankly guys, I'm worried not to mention a bit bummed out right now as I sit here in dread.

Many dwarf evergreens and conifers will grow here but somehow it always strikes me as cruel, sort of like having a St. Bernard dog fenced up outdoors in July and August panting non stop just to survive the heat. A really severe heat dome will often put them down or nearly so. We lost quite a few in 2011 and 12 around the city. Between that and that traveling nematode or whatever it is that has killed so many pines, there were 100's of dead trees everywhere and it was quite expensive to deal with.

I am in TexasRangers camp - maybe I'm overreacting, but I think this climate change will have a serious effect on all of us who garden - I will wait till the next winter is over - if it is a repeat of 2014, I will seriously rethink what I'm planting and make some major changes - get rid of the hydrangeas that bloom only on old wood, for example. But there are so many other plants and shrubs that are taking a beating with these extreme temps. And what I find strange, is that I use to be zone 5 and it was changed to zone 6 - makes absolutely no sense to me. I feel more like a zone 4!! Good luck to all of us.

Tex I agree with the hats off to Campanula. I grow Opuntia in my garden and find people have strong opinions either yea or nay, very few being undecided. I am clearly a fan of them & your garden. I empathize with you dreading the weather coming your way and hope that is not as severe as 2011 was. We had a killer ice storm in my area in /98 and it seems strange (especially to those of you with a longer growing season) to still talk about it but the bush is still recovering. We have had Dutch Elm disease wipe out thousands of trees years ago, now the Emerald ash borer is here along with Pine & Birch borers and most Butternut trees are dead or dying from a fungal disease. I sometimes feel like we will not have any trees left. I am an optimist and things have a way of working themselves out in nature. We gardeners are a tough bunch and will adapt to just about anything. Here's hoping all goes well for you!

It makes a great case for going native. Locally native plants which have had eons to adjust to what our fickle climate dishes out do well. Its the fancy imported "I just gotta have it" landscaping plants that cause the grief (in more ways than one). People belly ache when the inevitable happens as if its a personal attack by nature, and it is inevitable here. The area I live in is one of extremes but most old timers are "In the know" about this and don't expect miracles, they are more practical or to be more correct, cynical. There are certain plants which cannot take the roller coaster ride of drastic changes which often happen within hours here in the midwest, even if they are cold hardy to our zone or drought hardy for that matter because we regularly swing from drought to floods, from blazing heat to freezing cold at the drop of Mother Nature's Hat and the prevailing fronts we are at the mercy of.

I just covered all the outdoor faucets with their little winterizing caps. Usually I do that in January. This is just the pits.

Tex, do you look at texasstormchasers.com? Thinking of ya!

catkin we have lots of storm chasers around here, its a regular deal every year. Those guys love danger.

This sucker that is getting ready to barrel down on us come Tuesday is an Alien Invader, a strange phenomena caused by that typhoon, the cold air in the north is getting bullied and shoved out of its normal range by that huge mass of warm typhoon air all the way down to the south end of Texas. Most of Texas will be OK except it looks like the panhandle is going to get a hit. Oklahoma is not so lucky. As far as we are concerned, this is not normal. We are literally going to shift from summer-like weather to January in a matter of hours.