Just in case it has been forgotten, I figured that I would post these ideas again just to make some lives easier! When you take your new sprouts and put them out on that windy, spring rain-soaked patio remember how fragile they are! Take your empty soda bottles; cut off the top, punch some air holes in it, and you have a mini-green house for your "babyÂs". My patio is a living HELL for my new plants but I canÂt keep them inside forever or else they will have a hard time adapting later so I took some plastic coated wire used for electronics and made spiral curls to support tender and fragile stems and put the mini-green house over them and so far all of my new plants are doing just GREAT!! My new peas are growing so fast in the soda bottle that I had to drill a big hole in the top so that I could put a steak in the pot to support it! And for the tender stems that are too weak to support themselves or for when the wind bends them down you take thick soda straws (Like from McDonalds or Jack In The Box) and you slice it up the side, cut to length, and slide it over the stem to support it! IÂve used it on everything from big, primary, stems to branches to just big leaf stems! As long as you slide it on carefully so as to not pinch the bottom then it works a charm! Moreover, with the slit all the way up the straw, the stem can just grow out of the support and it wonÂt hurt it! Oh, and IÂm using cheep, ($3.00) Home Depot Paint Buckets with holes drilled in the bottom as "Pots"! Sure beats paying like, $10.00 for a pot the same size! The white oneÂs donÂt look as bad as you would think as long as you take the metal handles off! Um, I canÂt think of anything else at the moment but remember, just keep looking around and lots of "Trash" can be put to good use in the odd environment of Patio Gardening!!

2010 was my first year wintersowing. I've grown BB's every year. Our average last frost date is about May 22, and the "safe" plant out date is May 30. We continue to get snow as late as the third week of May. In 2010 I was in a different location. Same city but downtown which is a solid zone 6, due to different elevation plus the thermal mass of the pavement and buildings. In 2010 I planted out April 15 when the sprouts hit the top of the container. In 2011 I planted out May 15th, and in 2012 May 5th. The earlier plant-outs bloomed better than the May 15 planting. Your seedlings are half-hardened. They are already fine in whatever temperatures you have right now. If you haven't had the top of your containers open, they may be a bit soft to go directly out into the wind. Gradually expose them to wind, rain, sleet, etc, and they will be fine. You can plant them in the ground now and put cloches over them to protect them from wind. Easy cloche: milk jug with the bottom cut off, held in place with a stick through the hole where the cap goes. Remember to uncover them for a while each day so the wind can help them get strong.

Just wanted to post a followup on this for anyone who may come across this thread in the future. I always hate finding a thread full of good information, but then not knowing if it actually worked or not. I replaced the trees that died, and the new ones are doing great. Here's what I did differently. (I know that for some of you, these may be the most obvious things in the world, but some of us are still learning, even from our really stupid, obvious mistakes). - I waited til it cooled down. It got cooler earlier than I expected, so I was able to do the transplants a couple weeks ago. - Smaller trees. I did still really need the height, so I went with 6-8' tall trees (some are about 9', actually), but I got much smaller caliper (trunk diameter) trees. I tried for no more than about 1.5" caliper, measured 6 inches above the root flare (some are a little closer to 1.75"). They're definitely much less full, but they'll get the job done until they fill in and grow up a little. It helps a lot that I found out that for screening purposes, eastern red cedars can be planted as close as 4' apart. Bigger, fuller trees really aren't needed at that spacing. - No starter fertilizer. These are trees, not grass. I used some Fertilome Root Stimulator & Starter solution (per the manufacturer's instructions) when I planted, and may add some Superthrive in a couple weeks, just to get the roots really going before winter kicks in. - Much better care of the root balls. I didn't make perfect root balls, as such - after reading a whole lot of back and forth between scientists on the benefits of good root balls vs taking as much root as possible, even if they're outside of the dirt, I kind of went with a hybrid approach. I got as much root as I could, and kept as much dirt on them as possible. I kept all of them covered with dirt of some type for as much time as possible, and ensured that they never actually got dry. Total time from digging to planting was less than 4 hours, and most of that time, they were in some kind of dirt. - I watered with a sprinkler for a few days, to let moisture come in through both the roots & leaves, in case the roots were having difficulty of some kind. Then I found out about Wilt-Pruf (prevents moisture from escaping through the leaves, which causes a lot of transplant shock). I applied it per the manufacturer's instructions, and am now watering with a soaker hose, as Wilt-Pruf should also prevent absorption of water through the leaves. - I haven't mulched yet (life got in the way unexpectedly), but I will be soon. Something else I came across in my reading - mulch isn't required, but most bushes or trees that are mulched in their first year or two after transplant show 20%+ more growth than those that aren't. Since growth & size are my primary goals here, it's worth having that junk in my yard for a year or two. We'll see what, if anything, will grow under these trees once they're established, but for now, it's gonna be mulch. Thanks, everybody, for all the insights provided. Hopefully these results, and what I did to get them, will be useful to someone else in the future, too.

Four feet away, alongside or out front? My Autum Clematis is a real grower, sending long tendrils along the fence. I kind of lead, fold and wind the tendrils where I want them to grow along the fence. Can get rather thick at the fence top, though not usually by the roots as much. 4ft in front would be safe if you control the tendrils somewhat. 4ft beside the clematis would be a nothing distance to reach over, probably cover the Peony. Other Clematis are less vigorous, could be trusted near Peonies. That Autumn Clematis is a real busy grower, gets long and thick. Even trimmed hard yearly in spring, mine grows incredibly every summer. They do seem to get thicker, more growth every year as roots develop. Of course the flowers and smell are REALLY nice in the fall!