I get so busy that I delay too long to say thank you. Garden 2 garden, you suggest cutting the dead wood and I have done that. I think I will also wait to see what happens. Ann, thank you. I will count on the rain, but not temps under 90. I think I saw that it is 86 today, and that is getting hot. I won't hesitate to water though. Kaye, thank you so much for posting. I am so sorry that your "Signature Roses" have been badly damaged. You have a great attitude about it, but then, what are our choices. I think it will be good for me to just remove the dead wood, and watch to see what happens. I have had quite a bit of damage in the past couple of years, and have waited to remove the dead wood, so it looks like there is more damage from the ice storm than there really is. It is so hard to keep up this time of year. I had the front of my house cared for, and went to the back. Now a couple of weeks later there are all kinds of weeds that have crept up in the front. Thanks again Sammy

Kadasuki - What kind of trees have you lost so far? We cut down a silver maple in our back yard after our big ice storm here two years ago. It might have lived but it looked pretty bad. We cut down an Autumn Blaze(I think) maple in our front yard that had extensive damage but kept another, same kind of maple, that wasn't quite as bad. We had two London Plane trees that had only a few broken limbs. We cut down one while we had people here to help us because it was planted in a bad spot and kept the other. We kept a tulip tree that still looks pretty awful and probably should've been cut down. My parents have one about the same age that had heavy damage but has recovered nicely. Their hard maples looked horrid but they kept them. They're not recovering well at all. Still have no tops and a really weird shape. We have a pin oak in our front yard that did pretty well. It had the very top broken off but it looked good compared to some of our other trees. They don't tolerate limey soil very well if you have that. The worst thing about them is the way the limbs continually grow down. It makes them hard to mow under. You would need to make sure it's not too close to any buildings because it's hard to keep the limbs trimmed up away from the roof. We had a red mulberry that had nothing left but part of the trunk and we had to have it taken out. It surprised me how badly some of the oak trees did around here. Some that were very old that lost huge limbs. I think you're smart to drive around to see what looks the worst and also try to note which trees regain their shape after being damaged.

For you guys who know what I'm up to, an update. My large trachy is now covered for the season, as of this past Sunday. I did go with a version of dln949's method. I've been monitoring temp since it was completed and it seems that this one will be a definite winner! A quick description. Frame built from 2x2 pine posts, 1x4s for supports, all assembled with screws. The 2x2s are driven about a foot into the ground and staked very solid and secure. The enclosure is just high enough for the tree, about 7 feet. It is an odd shape because of the slightly raised triangle planter it is in. It's about 4'x3.5'x4'x3', and about 7' high as stated. It has a supported roof of 3/8" plywood covered with carpet. The enclosure is wrapped in chicken wire stapled down, except for on the roof. Over the chicken wire are two old but good shape bed comforters (bedspreads). They are stapled on, ground to roof. They staple on at the ground on 3 sides directly to the wood borders of the raised planter. Over the comforters is silver bubble wrap insulation which comes in a 4' wide roll. This is tacked on with staples and heavily duct taped at the seems and wrapped round and round with duct tape. All seems are overlapped by about a foot. Also the insulation over-wraps the roof. The thing is air-tight! Over the insulation is a waterproof tarp covering the whole thing, tied on tightly but able to be easily removed if I need to sneak a peek at a spot where I made an access hole which can be opened where I can get at the power strip if needed. Around the outside base of the enclosure are leaf bags packed tight to the bottom and anchored down by bricks and 6x6 timbers. I hand-packed more leaf/grass mulch into the areas between the bags and against the enclosure under the bags. Inside the enclosure: 5" deep cedar mulch as normally is in the planter. Under it is a "rope light" right at the dirt around the trunk right on top of the roots. On top of the cedar mulch is a string of mini outdoor xmas lights zig zagging over the ground/mulch in there and especially around the outer perimeter of the enclosure to keep the ground from freezing. Over the mini lights is a 6" layer of loose leaves and packed a little higher around the outer walls. Wrapped around the trunk and crown area of the tree is another string of mini xmas lights. The 2 strings of mini lights and the rope light are ALWAYS ON. Then zig-zagging throughout the inside of the enclosure frame, but not touching the tree or enclosure walls are 2 more strings of xmas lights, a string of white c-7s and white c-9s connected in series. These are connected to a "thermo cube" which comes on at 35 and off at 45 degrees. Also connected to the power cube is a clamp-on reflector fixture with a very bright CFL bulb in it for a little extra heat if needed. All of this extra heat only comes on if/when needed and has already tested to be very effective. When they come on when it hits 35 or so, which only happened twice that I have observed, it warms to beyond 45 in there within minutes, and they turn off. I believe this will protect it to well below zero for sure! My remote thermometer is mounted on a bracket about midway up the wall inside the enclosure far enough away from any of the xmas lights where it is accurate and transmits to about anywhere inside my house from all the way across the yard. A few more notes: I did not use the "Night Watchman" for this enclosure (thanks Jim for the "cube" tip). The Watchman is sufficient for one large string of xmas lights, but no more wattage than that. Two strings and it does not work right. The Cube is for higher wattage applications and an absolute PERFECT device for our needs here! I will use that Watchman thing for my needle palm which will only need one string of c-7 lights when I do cover it. The needle has a rope light under the mulch at the base/roots right now and the ground is warm to the touch there. I'll leave that on when the large trash can goes over it in a few weeks or when lows dip under the teens at night. The needle is taller than I thought, I might have to mulch it higher so it fits under the plastic trash can. The Watchman will prevent it from overheating under there and it will be easy to check on periodically. Bottom line, this was a pretty easy enclosure to build and assemble. I might not use it next year, maybe I will, depending on how easy it comes down and what condition it is in. I'd say I have about 4 or 5 total hours invested in its assembly and setup. Total cose: About $100. That includes the lights, materials, remote hermometer ($11.95), Thermocube ($8.95), etc. I really need to figure out how to post pictures right here on GW, rather than that outside link thing. I have a ton of pictures from all summer, to every step of the building process of the enclosure. I'd love to post them... So that's my outdoor palm's protection setup. Wish me luck, and good luck to you guys!

Beautiful pictures. It reminds of the year before my husband died. We had an ice storm and I was taking him to the Doctor the next morning and the trees looked like millions of diamonds sparkling in the sun.