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.

Nate, I use floating row cover and have for many years. It is wonderful for extending the growing season at least a month, and sometimes much more, in both spring and fall. I had read about the use of row cover in Dr. Sam Cotner's wonderful book on growing vegetables in Texas (the book is now out of print) as far back as the 1980s, I believe, and laughed and said to myself that I'd never go to "that much" trouble to raise vegetables. Well, obviously, I'm older and wiser now and use lots of it every year. I now regret that I waited probably at least 10 years before I decided to give it a try. It is superb. However, it has its limitations. Floating row cover comes in different weights. Each different weight or thickness gives you a specific amount of protection from frost and cold temperatures, and each one allows a certain percentage of sunlight to penetrate the fabric. So, when choosing the row cover you're going to buy and use, do your research and choose the one that best meets your needs. I've never used it to wrap single tomato cages because I don't want to cut it up into small pieces. I might do it that way if I only grew a few tomato plants, but I plant a fairly high number of tomato plants every spring, so I just leave the floating row cover in one piece and wrap it down one side of the caged plants, then around the corner and wrap it up the other side of the whole row. I use clothespins to secure the ends of the fabric together at the cage where they meet up, then fold the piece from either side of the long rows over the tops of the cages and pin the tops down to the tops of the cages with clothespins. I secure the bottom of the row covers to the ground using U-shaped metal pins sold by the same suppliers who sell the row cover. Before I started using floating row cover I used to wrap individual cages with 4 or 6 mm clear plastic for the first 4-6 weeks the plants were in the ground, but the plastic isn't as suited as the row is for this purpose. With plastic, air flow is impeded so you can have disease issues develop and you also get the greenhouse effect within the wrapped cage. In one way that is a good thing because the plants grow faster, but it can be a bad thing because they're growing in unnaturally warm conditions and can suffer greatly on a cold night. Plus, any part of the plant that touches the plastic freezes, which doesn't happen with floating row covers. That's why I stopped wrapping the cages in plastic. The benefits of using a floating row cover? Frost and freeze protection varying from 2 degrees to 10 degrees depending on the weight of the row cover you use. Protection from the wind. Exclusion of many insects that like to attack young plants. Because the row cover holds in some heat at night, protected plants tend to flower and fruit earlier. Or, if using it in the fall, you prolong the harvest substantially. Do I think the use of floating row cover is worthwhile? Yes, yes, yes, a million times yes. Wrapping tomato cages with it is only one of the many ways it is useful in our climate. Because all the cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, etc.) are prone to damage from cabbage loopers and imported cabbage worms, gardeners have to spray them regularly with Bt 'kurstaki' to reduce or eliminate the caterpillar damage, or hand-pick and destroy the caterpillars daily OR just cover the plants with row cover and not uncover them until it is time to harvest. Because squash vines are prone to damage from squash bugs and squash vine borers (which quickly kill the plants), as gardeners we are constantly looking for ways to defeat the SVBs and keep our plants alive and producing. The answer? Covering the plants with floating row covers. (You do have to uncover the squash for pollination.) Some plants like eggplant, radishes, tomatoes and potatoes often suffer tremendous damage from flea beetles in early through mid-spring. The solution? Floating row covers. And, I'd like to add that Dr. Adams' new book is just about my favorite tomato growing book of all time. I've been waiting forever for someone to write a book specifically about growing tomatoes in the kinds of soils and climate conditions and weather we have here in this part of the country, and at long last, it has happened! While the chapter on growing tomatoes in Dr. Cotner's book was helpful, I had longed hoped for more in-depth writing on the subject, and Dr. Adams' book is it. If Dr. Adams says something is so, you can take it to the bank. He trialed tomatoes in southeast Texas for 3 or 4 decades as a part of his work (and as a part of his gardening lifestyle too) and there's probably no one in this part of the country whose tomato-growing knowledge is superior to his. We are further north than most of Texas, but except for the fact that some of us have colder weather than what he is used to in his part of Texas, our conditions are very similar and his advice works as well for us as it does for the Texans for whom the book was written. Dawn

One or two nights up here (I'm in Sterling Hts) should not harm your roebellini. The wife and I moved ours from the back porch to the front porch last night just so it would have a covering over head for the next couple of days and pick up some of the radiant heat from the house and bricks. They are suppose to be good to about 24 degrees, so I am not too concerned. In fact, I am looking at picking up another roebellini (about 3'- 4' tall) over the weekend. They look real good and for the price ($80.00 right now, but should be able to get down to $50.00, regularly $200.00) you cant go wrong.

Hi wantoretire_did! Thank you so much for the suggestions! I've been meaning to get to HD and my local ACE for a walk-about. I'm going to go when I have a couple of hours and don't have to rush around. Just walk around with my trusty legal pad and take notes. Lighting is a big part of what I want to look at. I really appreciate your suggestion because that didn't even cross my mind! I'm pretty sure most, if not all, of the fixtures in my house are original, and at 37, they need to retire, lol! I just can't see paying some guy from CL for the rest of my life to come replace bulbs and wash the fixtures! I have electric burners, but I can see how that could easily happen with gas. I'm pretty much leaning against the ceiling fans now; cathyyg made very good points, and these seven ft. ceilings feel so low already, even at my height, that I fear the fans would just draw attention to them. We've got a good system with the fans now, and I don't think ceiling fans are as necessary as I thought they were when I first posted this. Yes! Taking lots of pictures! :-) I hope all is well with you and yours!