Everyone talked around here about how cold it was in 2009's winter, there was snow that glazed into a dangerous ice surface and I fell more than once tending orchards- one time injuring my ribs enough not to be able to sleep on one side for months. For all that, night temps never got much below zero. I agree that local trends are not at all a way to gauge global climate but we are subjective creatures by instinct. I do worry more about global climate change when my local conditions are particularly warm and become more sanguine when things seem closer to normal, like this morning and the next couple weeks of forecast. I welcome the cold, although I'll be outside in the elements every working day. Wish I could tune down the wind though- that's what bites.

Well, I don't know too much about the specific varieties Bing and Ranier but I did live in Michigan as recently as three years ago. We used to go cherry picking just north of Grand Rapids for both sweet cherries (couldn't tell you if they were Bing but Ranier was definitely one of the varieties for sale) and tart. They were fairly cheap and the orchards fairly large. But that may not be much in terms of agricultural significance for an entire state. It was zone 5 and not influenced by the lake that far inland. Didn't even get lake effect that far inland as I recall. Now I'm in a zone 5/6 area, also too far from a great lake for a beneficial microclimate. I recently saw an old half dead sweet cherry tree. It had not been cared for in quite some time. But it was covered by nicely flavored but small sweet cherries. It didn't seem to be suffering from a bug infestation - more like the trunk had split and lost a large limb. Long story short - if you have time and space, it might be worth an experiment. If your zone 5 suffers from late frost then cherries might be few and far between. I'm thinking of experimenting with cherries myself these days. Cindy

Me too! I haven't sowed many of my flowers at all, tho I was planning on WSing my Dianthuses...I have 4 varieties to WS. And you all say they will do fine once sprouted even IF there are cold snaps/frosts? Wow! I'm totally impressed! Right now we have 3-4 feet of snow and ice, with another 6 or so coming yet. Here in Portland burbs in Maine I think we've received somewhere near 120 inches so far, with more to come! I have to work tomorrow...maybe I'll do more WSing tonight before the snow flies, that way the containers will get some snow cover. It's ok I placed some on top of the snow, right???? ...well.. they were on top of the snow a week or two ago...now they are buried in snow.....

Oh my. What is a passionate rose lover like you doing in that glacial hell hole? Reading about your endeavors has exhausted me and I haven't even lifted a shovel. I admire your grit and determination, but would love to see you rewarded with thousands of blooms on your rose bushes for all your hard work. I bet they could use engineers in zones 7 to 10!