I agree Andy, I think its over too. I uncovered my bigger palms yesterday. First time they've been uncovered since December. The coldest our nighttime lows are forecasted to be is 25, which isn't bad considering the weather we've been having. At this point though, 50s might be too much to ask for LOL.

Its over here for sure. Today is 74F

I think its over here as well and I am glad. This was not a bad winter here but its always better when it stays above 60 degrees. Our low this morning was 59 degrees so Im sure its getting better.

Andy: I don't think in Michigan the cold threat to palms is over yet and to be on the safe side, I'd wait another 10 days or so. I too had sugar plumbs dancing in my head about the warm up we had about a week or so ago, but resisted the urge to uncover them which we are going to do this coming weekend March 15th. I even know some folks in Virginia Beach that are waiting until April 10 to uncover, but to me that is waiting a bit too long. Today it is in the mid 60s, but it is just better to wait to be sure. All the best and summer will be here before you know it!

andy the virginian is right. Its 61 degrees right now and this weather should be on its way to you by tomorrow, but there is still cold in our forcast later this week. Just another week or 2 and we should have better weather

It's still back and fourth here too.

Can you guys believe its the middle of March already?!?! SEVEN MORE DAYS UNTIL SPRING!!!!! This winter flew by for me. Got to 59f today but I'll bet we're in for at least one more cold snap. That's March and April for ya.

well it always snows on my father inlaws? birthday April 13 - I still think we have a few more weeks - temps at least seem to be moderating to norm.

jeff

I'm with you guys,however I will not remove protection yet the combination of cold rainy weather and hungry little rabbits (who I'm sure have been waiting for the buffet to open)will keep me erroring on the side of caution besides I think palms are a little weak coming out of winter and I would rather wait till they show me they are ready to grow,another nice thing is my bananas and other palms are starting to grow inside which is very cool.I have noticed looking back at other long cold winters that the transition going into spring is generally more gradual with out the big temp swings that usaually mean flowers being killed by frost like last year and that would be a nice change GO SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone-
Relax, I clearly indicated I would not be dragging any palms out soon. it's just nice to finally feel spring in the air.
Dave in Florida-
You kill us notherners compalining about lows of 59. We've only had one day over 59 since early November. 59 at night is nice sleeping weather
Josh-
What winter have you had, it's been long, colder than normal, snowier than normal, and with the expection of today the next 9 days once agian all colder than normal. I think it's been long and brutal and I'm ready to pull my hair out. My kingdom for a sunny 60 degree day.

The winter here was just warmer than average. Actually a full zone above average. Chambersburg PA straddles the 6b/7 line and our low was 7.5f. That puts us at a 7b this winter anyway. Sorry to hear it stayed so cold for so long. That was how it was last spring here. Never got that warm consistently until middle of second week of May.

Josh-
In the strict definition of a zone (low temperaure for the winter) it wasn't that bad. We had colder nights last winter. It's just that it has been running below average for weeks and looks like it will continued to do so for the forseeable future. Plus the damn snow. I swear we had two months where it snowed every other day. 5 inches, 4 inches, 8 inches. it adds up. We had one (hopefully) last big dump last week. Otherwise it would all be melted now and we'd actually be drying out by now instead of a mass melt and it getting more wet.

To all you guys uncovering : Just remember those palms have been in the shade for a while now so slowly acclimate them to the sun to avoid sun burn.

It's sunny and 5 out today. it is amazing how good that can feel when it's the nicest day since November!

Yeah, spring is in the air. I am looking to unpack this greenhouse come April. I am already starting to think about putting the shade cloth on the GH. It gets hot in there.

Orchiddude
How much of that shadecloth do you use ? Over how much of your green house is it over. Will black visqueen do the same thing ?

This info is from a meteorologist from Toronto

Spring Forecast 2008
March 17, 2008

We 're coming out of one of the snowiest winters on record. About 185 cm of snow has been recorded at Pearson Airport since the start of November. The most snow ever recorded at Pearson was 207 cm in 1938/39. The white winter can be linked directly to a strong La Nina. The colder than normal waters in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean affected the Jet Stream's path. The storm track spent a good part of the winter flowing straight over southern Ontario. That's why we had so much snow. The latest sea surface temperature analysis in the equatorial Pacific is showing warmer water and therefore a weakening La Nina. I still think that even this weaker La Nina will keep temperatures cool into early April. I'm also expecting a little more snow. I wouldn't be shocked if we got 5-10 cm of snow in April. By the second half of the month temperatures will warm up enough to make April near normal for temperature. March will finish colder than normal and I'm expecting May to be slightly warmer than normal. Average May daytime highs hover a shade below 19C. Look for average highs close to 20C. That sounds pretty nice. Both April and May will have near normal amounts of precipitation. April averages 68.4 mm while May averages 72.5 mm.

Michael Kuss

Meteorologist

90% of my garden still has a foot of snow. 50% of the yard still has snow. I'm not uncovering my palms yet! Global warming does not exist where I live.

Nyssaman, it is amazing how much colder Toronto/London is than Detroit/Windsor. For that as a fact, even Chicago is somewhat colder than Detroit. Both Chi and Toronto are at almost the same latitude Detroit but are much more continental that SE MI/SW Ont. What part of Ontario are you from? I know that Essex County is just as warm as Detroit area and there are whole lots of funky plants that grow in both of these areas that match a Kentucky/Northern VA type climate.

It is an interesting microclimate.

Were getting in the 80's but we have had a few freak nights of 40 Not yet i don't think !