At one time, almost every Mum was winter hardy. I'm sure many of us northerners remember our Grandmothers growing them in the garden, and not doing anything overly special to ensure their return in the spring. Then, hybridizers began breeding them toward flower size, shape, and color, and for plant size and shape... and not so much for hardiness. Actually, the more plants that die, the more that will be purchased to replace those that didn't make it. It's the same with almost every industry out there... with the bottom line being happy stockholders and corporate management, never mind the consumer. But I digress... I actually have some pink Mums with smallish flowers that come back every spring. They're planted in a mixed perennial border that faces west, and gets wicked frigid winds and snow during winter. If you really want to keep them potted, you could try planting them in the pots... burying the pots up to the rims in the garden... in a protected spot where they won't get windblown and have more of a chance at survival. A good, heavy layer of mulch will be in order, as well. There are no guarantees, but they may fare okay planted in this manner. I'm not sure I would go with a greenhouse, mainly because the temperature will fluctuate due to sunshine on the glass or plastic. You could be looking at quite a difference in temperature between day and night. Perhaps someone else has a better idea... anyone? I actually keep all my potted roses and perennials stored in an otherwise unused garage over winter. It stays closed from the first really hard freeze we get, until spring. The plants are grouped together in plastic baby pools, just to keep the pots off the concrete... and the only time I open a door is if I notice the pots are dry, and I throw a few shovels of snow over them just for moisture. The plants don't need any light because they're dormant, so that's not an issue. As spring comes, I begin opening the doors, which face east, for a few hours every day... making sure to close them before the sun goes down. I've had very good luck wintering everything over this way... though you couldn't use a heated garage, or one that was used for the family cars. It's important that the doors remain closed... unless it's just to add a little snow for occasional moisture. I'm not sure if I've helped you, at all... but I'm sure someone else will be along shortly to offer more advice. Good luck! :-)

I am a newbie, and was just logging in to report potential panic on my tomatoes. I have eight jugs of tomatoes that I winter sowed. From the WS database, it looked like it was ok for tomatoes to over winter (rather than sow in April). They all germinated and as of yesterday I had seedlings that were showing true leaves and were two inches tall. I've been sick the last few days and a little out of it, so I forgot that our temps were supposed to get down around 37 degrees, and I would have covered the jug tops back up but I was too sick and tired and I forgot. This morning about half of the tomato seedlings look fine, hale and robust as ever. But the other half of the varieties seemed much more affected. The romas are all droopy and sad looking, like they just ran a marathon. Fared best: Stupice, Roma, Yellow Pear, Black from Tula Fared the worst: Striped Roma, Brandywine Jury's out on how the green zebra and chocolate cherry toms are doing, as they were littler sprouts to begin with. It seems there may have been some wind effect, as even within the same jug some of them (planted closer to one wall) fared better than others. Thats my evidence, for what its worth. Think they'll bounce back?

Don't know where you live, texas lynn, but in a warmer zone than I. I am in Copper Canyon located between Dallas and Denton. I have so many varieties of birds, and it is such a blessing to be able to sit here and watch them through the bay window. This year I have a pair of ruby crested kinglets that have been here all winter. Usually, I see them for only a short period of time. They feed on the suet .......seldom on seeds.

I like it quite a bit. I do wonder if the grates need to be as high as they are, but I don't mind it. We've been having a lot of fun cooking things that we just couldn't do on our old stove. We worried a bit about how low it could go when cooking, but we haven't had any trouble getting it low enough for our needs. I've made pudding and slow-cooked oatmeal in milk on it, for example, without any scorching issues. I couldn't do that on our old stove without standing over it and stirring constantly, but on the Performer I've found I can walk away and do other things and just stir those items occasionally. We chose it because we wanted a lot of power, we'd heard about Bluestar's hot door issues, and we had a friend who hadn't been happy with Bluestar. We thought we probably wanted an open burner as well, and that really limits the field. We couldn't find a live Capital, and I'd heard a lot about some people's simmer issues, so I ruled it out since I couldn't try it for myself. There is a Luwa gallery not far from our home that had several American ranges live. We went there and tried the Performer out and decided it would work well for us. Our oven door does get warm, but I've never noticed it getting burn-your-skin-instantly hot like I've heard about with Bluestar. Let me bake something in the next day or two, and I'll pay special attention to how warm the door gets. I'll report back.