I'm certainly no stranger to being disagreed with, but to conclude that because two trees died and they had it must have been the freeze/thaw cycles is not logical. Consider the logic, which mirrors what you are saying: Your friend Joe is scratched by a cat while visiting another friend. Two days later he comes down with a fever, then dies. You conclude he died from cat scratch fever, never stopping to consider that it could have been any one of hundreds of other maladies. In the case of the trees you must consider other possibilities and have some means of eliminating them before you adopt a reason that is contrary to known science, which would be a considerable uphill battle. Other possibilities for the demise of the trees: Too wet Too dry The roots were exposed to killing low temps Not enough energy reserves going into winter Insect infestation Disease Others Besides - you relate an anecdote about two trees that died from unknown causes, and an experienced grower relates that >100 trees he overwinters in an unheated garage which see repeated freeze thaw cycles, not to mention the several trees (only the hardiest pines & junipers) that remain outdoors above ground all winter and that see dozens or repeated freeze/thaw cycles do NOT suffer ill effects from the freeze/thaw, so logic tells us, even w/o science, that the likelihood of my observation being the more accurate is much greater. Now - getting to the science ..... this is a copy/paste job from something I contributes to another thread a while back: Commonly, each species of plant has a general range of cold-hardiness. Within species and cultivar, cold-hardiness is genetically determined. That is to say that a plant that is propagated from cuttings or tissue culture will have the same ability to resist cold as the parent plant. Plants cannot "develop" a greater degree of cold-hardiness by repeated or prolonged exposure to cold, even after 100 years (trees). If we pick any plant at random, it may or may not be able to withstand freezing temperatures. The determining factor is the plants ability to prevent freezing of bound water. Bound water is the water inside of cells. There are actually three kinds of water to consider when we discuss "freezing". The water held in soil - When this water freezes, and it can freeze the soil mass solid, it doesn't necessarily kill the plant or tissues. Then there is free or unbound water, also called inter-cellular water. This is water that is found in plant tissues, but is outside of living cells cells. This water can also freeze solid and not kill the plant. The final type of water is bound water or intra-cellular water. If temperatures drop low enough to freeze this water, the cell/tissue/plant dies. This is the freeze damage that kills plants. Fortunately, nature has an antifreeze. Even though temperatures drop well below freezing, all plants don't die. In hardy plants, physiological changes occur as temperatures drop. The plant moves solutes (sugars, salts, starches) into cells and moves water out of cells to inter-cellular spaces in tissues. These solutes act as antifreeze, allowing water in cells to remain liquid to sometimes extremely low temperatures. The above is a description of super-cooling in plants. Some plants even take advantage of another process to withstand very low temps called intra-cellular dehydration. The roots of your trees can stay frozen for extended periods or go through multiple freeze/thaw cycles w/o damage, so long as the temperature does not fall below that required to freeze intra-cellular water. If roots remain frozen, but temperatures remain above killing lows, dessication is the primary concern. If the tree is able to take up water, but temperatures are too low for the tree to grow and make food, stored energy becomes the critical issue. Dormant and quiescent trees are still using energy from their reserves (like a drain on a battery). If those reserves are depleted before the tree can produce photosynthesizing mass, the organism dies. There are a number of factors that have some affect on the cold-hardiness of individual plants, some of which are length of exposure to seasonal cold, water availability (drought stressed plants are more cold tolerant), how recently planted/repotted, etc No one can give a definitive answer that even comes close to accurately assessing the temperature at which bound water will freeze that covers the whole species. Unbound water is of little concern & will usually freeze somewhere around 28*. Some material will be able to withstand little cold & roots could freeze/die at (actual) root temperatures as warm as 25-27*. Other plants may tolerate much colder actual root temperatures - as low as 10*. There's just no way of knowing unless you have a feeling for how cold-tolerant the genetic material the plant was derived from might be, and finding out is expensive (from the plant's perspective). ;o) Another example of this genetic variance is that trees found growing and fruiting well closer to the equator need no chill time, while other trees, derived of genetic stock from a more northerly provenance may need a period of chill to grow with optimum vitality in the subsequent growth period/cycle. It's wise to remember that root death isn't instantaneous at one particular temperature. Roots succumb to cold over a range of chill with cultural conditions affecting the process. The finest roots will die first, and the slightly thicker and more lignified roots will follow, with the last of the roots to succumb being the more perennial and thickest roots. Since any root death is a setback from an energy allocation perspective, and root regeneration takes valuable time, it's probably best to keep actual root temperatures in the 25-40* range as long as we can when the tree is resting, even though the organism as a whole could tolerate much lower temperatures. Even well established trees become very much like cuttings if all but the roots essential to keep the tree viable are lost to cold. Regeneration of roots is an expensive energy outlay and causes the trees to leaf out later than they normally would and shortens the natural growth period and reduces the potential increase in biomass for the next growth cycle and perhaps beyond. Sorry for the detour, Joann. The 5" liner will be fine. I use shallow bulb pans almost exclusively. Use a soil that drains VERY well, and try to be sure the bulbs are not touching when you plant. The volume of soil in the container is an insignificant factor. A larger volume only increases the length of time it takes for the soil to fall to the same temperature as the surrounding air. It doesn't change how low the actual soil temperature will eventually drop to, which is the critical issue. FWIW - large containers resting on the ground do gain some advantage from geothermal heat, but in the case of tulips, it wouldn't be enough to ensure their survival. Take good care. Al

Krysten, the best sugestion would be to touch base with the previous owner and duplicate whatever she tells you to do as best as you can. Lack of blooms can be caused by weather that kills the flower buds, pruning after the flower buds have formed (they develop starting in August-September) and lack of moisture. There is little one can do about the weather so make sure that, if you have to prune, do so before August; and try to maintain the soil moist, not wet, not dry, as best as you can. Maintain 3-4" of acidic mulch up to the drip line of the shrub to help with moisture and cold/hot weather. Trying to get a specific color or color hue out of your hydrangea is a totally different problem. The acidity or alkalinity in your soil will determine the color that you get. If your soil is naturally alkaline, the blooms will be a shade of pink. If you add aluminum sulphate, the soil pH will change and the blooms will develop a purplish color at first. If you continue increasing the acidity of the soil then the blooms will turn blue. Since they are already blue then it follows that you need to add lime so the soil will be less acidic and more alkaline. That eventually triggers a change from blue to purple and then then to pink. But be aware that this is very difficult with hydrangeas planted in the ground; potted hydrangeas are easier to deal with. About the color purple..... the type of purple that you get as the plant changes from pink-to-purple-to-blue or from blue-purple-pink also depends on how many red pigments the plant actually has. The more it has, the more of a deep purple you get. What that means is that the type/variety of mophead hydrangea that you have will make a difference when you try to get a deep purple. Your plant may produce a light purple when shifting colors. Varieties that make nice deep purples are Glowing Embers, Royal Purple (also called Mathilda Gutges I think), Merrit Supreme and others. The previous owner can tell you what types of purple she got and how easy/hard it was to achieve them. Luis

I'm sorry I missed this thread until now. The genus name for the plant is Ornithogalum, most likely a hybrid between O. dubium and some of the other South African species. Their native habitat is winter wet/ summer dry so they like cool, frost-free conditions with plenty of water while in growth and bloom and a dry summer dormancy. Ryan

Hi Lindsay. I live in Michigan USDA Zone 6. You won't be able to use above ground planters as most perennials will suffer badly from the freeze if not completely die. That said, plants will grow around broken glass, etc. as long as the soil itself is decent. I suggest you pay a couple guys from a high school football team come and dig out a large trench along the fence to bury narrow horse trough planters. They don't have to be brand new [the planters not the guys] https://www.pinterest.com/pin/154952043399694610/ Fill the planters or trench with garden soil--not top soil. I just re-landscaped an older home in Pontiac MI and aimed for low maintenance perennials like hostas, daylilies and coral bells mass planted in groups of 3. Look for reblooming daylilies which will add massive color with little work. https://www.oakesdaylilies.com/. Daylilies love Epsom salts. You might want to add height with pillar form shrubs with color like Orange Rocket Barberry or that flowers/berries. Maybe hollies? Talk to your local nursery about what they have unless you want to buy online. Roses require a great deal of time and attention and chemicals especially if the Japanese beetles find them. I had to pull out a 12 bush beds of roses due to beetles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_beetle Clematis would be very beautiful, but can make maintenance of the fence difficult and they grow slowly. If you have little ones consider whether the flowers will draw stinging insects. I really like but didn't have much luck with micro clover. Died after the 1st year.