Update on the tomato seedlings. . . Well, the first four were doing so well, for a week of cold nights, that I put out a few more. They were fine, too. . . until it got down below freezing one night. They finally succumed to the cold! But now I know that cloches (the milk jugs) really do help! I'll just wait until April or so to try some more. :) Oh, but the chamomile seedlings that I put out under the milk jugs are still just fine. So perhaps it was just too early for delicate tomatoes. I direct-sowed snow peas which I hope to see sprouting soon. Today I finished transplanting the five 15 year old Alberta spruce trees that a neighbor gave me for free. I hope they live! ---Katy

I'm having the same problem with a small 'Garnet' Planted last August. Small buds look viable, new growth twigs have good color (not death dried like a few) and are green when scraped. We had a couple weeks of 70's then it got cold again and we had some scattered frost, I'm not sure if the frost hit that part of my yard or not. There was one small sucker that leafed out at the base of the tree during those warm days. I guess we just have to wait and see...I wonder how long to wait????

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.

Hi B2, Since I've never grown them I checked a couple sites that had some pretty good info, and it looks to me like if your house is 70 degrees or higher most of the time, they'd be fine without extra heat. If you have a sunny window where you could keep them, where they'd heat up nicely during the day, I think that might speed them up some. If you'd still like to use the heating pad, or if your house gets significantly colder overnight, describe more what they're in for me. Are they all in the same flat? And how deep is it, in other words, how much soil is between the bottom of the root/bulb and where the heating pad would be? If there's enough soil, I don't think a heating pad would heat it up enough to worry about, especially if you check it out a little bit at first and pick a lower setting if necessary. (If you're gonna set it on low to start with, I think it's VERY unlikely that you'd heat up the soil enough to hurt them!) Wet soil takes quite a bit of heat to heat it up much. But if you have them all in the same flat/tray/pot, I think it would work a lot better for you in the long run if you started them in separate small pots/cups (Me and my cups! Hey, they're cheap!) of some sort so you don't need to disturb the roots to replant them individually after they get started. If they're in separate pots, you can transplant them to wherever they're going to be over summer without disturbing the roots by just knocking them carefully out of the pots and sticking them in their permanent location. Tell me more about what they're in, and I'll tell you what to do with them-----even if I DON'T know anything about them!!! LOL [Don't say I didn't warn you! ;-)] Skybird