Dang Texas Weed, I live very near you and I have never been lucky enough to find morels or trumpets. Well if you are in the city areas, not likely to find the right conditions. We do not always get them out here as it takes a wet and cool spring or fall season. Around here they are found around dying Elm, Ash, and Sycamore trees with a lot of ground liter cover. Not a condition you will likely find in the metro areas. I also hear you can find them around dying apple trees and some ferns.

Thanks, Jaro! Yep, only the Med. coastline has been spared. Right now more snow for (almost) everyone. I think you're right about the Mont Ventoux. Looks like a cold-sore, bottom left hand corner of image... Places like Avignon and Orange have had well over 1 ft (30 cm) of snow, and well below average temps.We'll see during the spring what the olive-trees look like. Not to mention the umbrella-pines (Pinus pinea),wich- even if they can take a fair bit of cold- cannot take heavy snow loads. Same for Pinus halepensis. Saw many of them flattened near Arles. Chain-saw salesmen are working over-time. T.

This is my reponse to a post in the Roses Forum. I would have linked it directly but couldn't figure out how to do that. The post was about using plastic litter containers as protection. I too have many of those plastic litter totes and don't use them for the winter since any plastic touching the canes would harm or freeze them even more. Sometimes I use those to cover spring bulbs if a severe freeze comes our way but I make sure the leaves don't touch them. You could try tying the canes with twine first, but I still don't think an empty plastic container would offer enough insulation without any leaves or something around them. This is my second winter trying to protect my roses. Last year I only had a handful to protect and they came through pretty well. However, this year I have 25+ to get through. I am trying 3 different methods. 1. Biodegradeable cones stuffed with shredded leaves. There are 4 ventilation holes in them so I cut a slit through 2 of them and lifted half of the top without breaking it off and then stuffed it and put a rock on it. This was used for HT's that I felt could be pruned down enough. 2. Used cheap edge fencing that is about 15" high and comes in a roll and made a cage with it. It has pronges on it so it sticks into the dirt nice and easy (hopefully they don't heave). Then I lined it with straw and filled with soil. This was used for roses I didn't want to prune, like some Austin's, Romantica's, and OGR's. 3. A tree removal service was in my area and I asked him if he would dump a pile of those wood chips in my yard and mounded with that. There was alot of soil mixed in with it since it was from a stump but I think that will just make it better. Harder to move it around though. This was used for most of the hardier types but not cane hardy. It took several afternoons to do all of this and I hope all goes well, but possible canker is always the risk. I will report the results in the spring. Most of these roses are first year so they really need to be protected. Maybe next year I won't have to work as hard. Don't throw those litter totes away they come in very handy with gardening, especially if you don't have a wheel burrow, or if you want to store some soil or mulch for the next winter. They stack up real nice.

Today had great weather. I just looked at the memory (on my thermometer in the pindo palm enclosure) and it went up to 76F today! Now it says its only 32 outside (weather.com says 40F). But the cold comes back tommorrow with some morning rain possible (better than snow!). But just like you said, our palms really enjoyed this weather! Ill probbaly put the protection back on tommorrow because temps the next day will only rise to 26F (low of 25F) Good luck everyone! It looks like all my palms will make it to the new year (and as long as everything continues to go as planned it should survive the winter too!)