My really tall ones were laid down for the winter (low ceilings). I only made a million trips with the little ones & left the big stuff for DH & oldest son. I have a hernia & am not supposed to lift over 10 lbs (like I can live like that). The fun ones were the Rubbermaid containers, the really huge ones you could put a body in. LOL I can't get in the basement, front or back porch or dining room. Hope it warms up tomorrow night. I won't be able to sleep tonight & will be checking the temps & panicking if they get too low. I should have covered the tomatoes & peppers & now I can't see to do them. Linda

But the birds are IN amongst the geranium, are they not? Will she be able to wrap the geranium without wrapping the birds? And if she manages to wrap it, how will the mother react? Hmm... Mehearty, does the basket hang under the porch roof, or is it farther out and exposed? Can it be moved further under the roof, like next to the house wall? Would that be enough to protect the geraniums? Is it possible to hang something over the basket from the roof (as opposed to laying it directly on the basket), possibly leaving a bit of access for the mother to get in and out? I hope you figure this one out - for the sake of the geraniums and the birds! :) Dee

Jay, It looks good here for the next couple of weeks too, until about mid-Oct., assuming we don't have a surprise frost here tonight. (It is possible because we stayed cooler than forecast all day today and our place is in a very low-lying frost pocket.) I'm not surprised NE OK has a frost advisory because they have had some really cool mornings lately, but seeing the advisory come as far down south as Pottawatomie County did surprise me a bit. I guess the sulphurs and monarchs sent everyone a message by veering towards the west while migrating, because northern/eastern/and parts of central OK are going to be very cold tonight, but the monarchs have been making their way through the parts that are staying warmer. Hmmm. What did the butterflies know and when did they know it? Were they hitching a ride on the wind currents or were they warning us of impending cold in the eastern portion of the state? As an aside, I went several days last week without seeing a hummer, then suddenly, we had hummers all over the place on Fri.-Sat. and none today, so I think the Fri.-Sat. bunch of hummers were migrating to get out in front of and stay ahead of the colder weather. Larry, I'm in a low-lying frost pocket in the Red River Valley and we have had very early frosts some years hit plants without damaging them, likely because the frost was on the plants only for the briefest of periods. I've also had some tender annual flowers survive 3 or 4 light frosts before a hard frost finally got them. It also is possible you had light wind and he didn't, so frost settled on his plants and not yours. A friend of our who lives about a mile from us but on much higher ground never sees as frost as early as we do. I'm even worried about our forecast lows here since we went 5 or 6 degrees lower than forecast last night. With a forecast of 44 for tonight, a dip 6 degrees colder than that would give us the right temperature range to allow frost to form if the other conditions were right. Our coldest temps lately occur shortly before sunup, roughly between 6 and 7:15 a.m. and I am usually awake by 6 a.m., so I'll run outside and watch to see if frost has formed or is forming first thing in the morning. If it has or is forming, I'll hose the frost off the plants or turn on the sprinkler or something to try to mitigate the damage. We just returned from Lowe's a short while ago, and our Lowe's still has tons of warm-season plants, including many tomato plants in 6" pots, and they weren't covering up anything so maybe they aren't worried about it. If I were them, I would be a little concerned. Keith, You'd better hope your stink bug buddies freeze. The alternative is that they are cuddling to stay warm (like some people do during an ice-storm-induced power outage) and will be giving birth in spring to many babies "made" during this cold night. That's a worst possible case scenario, you know. I am not liking how cold it feels here right now. It feels really chilly now that the sun is almost down and I am going to watch and see how many degrees we drop between now and 10 p.m. Dawn

Madri, Cuyahoga Falls is probably too far from the lake to get much of a buffer from it. The lake temp is currently at 46 so it provides some insulation right along the shore (though we do have the cooler air temps thanks to the lake breezes). Anything farther in than probably about 5 to 10 miles and that protection from frost drops off. So while you don't need to worry about your roses, you might want to cover any tender annuals like impatiens, coleus, or begonias if you have those.