hey jon .... i realize you have done many posts about all this.. but i cant recall the facts in all the different posts ... these look like very young babes.. how long ago planted??? i think its a function of not quite being 'established'] .. the roots can not process enough water to offset the ambient weather ... once fully est'd ... they will be very much more able to handle the vagaries of weather [which i call free range] ... but until then.. they will have the potential to do this ... whether or not you have proper water ... water deep into fall ... if not all winter, of which i have no idea what you call winter ... its sunburn ... to my eye ... [which i also see in winter in my z5 ... winter dessication] i am presuming that you are inserting your finger.. and insuring the amount of water.. is actually keeping the soil moist at root depth ... mulch sounds about right ... otherwise .. its young tree-father paranoia ... presuming proper water.. there isnt much more you can do .... good luck ken ps: the leaves on the maple look like they might be drooping.. beyond the sunburn... if so.. its not getting enough water.. or its normal for whatever maple that is .... pps: i appreciate the pix of the logbook.. but they werent necessary.. i believe you if you say you took notes .. lol ...

I don't contribute often any more, but I thought I had to this week. This can help explain why I stay with you guys in the FAR north. By the way, our local arborists explain that we are lucky there was a hard april freeze that delayed our trees from leafing out. Otherwise, there would have been major damage all over town, not just the east half. Also, only half the varieties of trees are fully leafed out, so a lot less limbs fell under SEVEN inches of snow June 10! I was on my way to work that day (the first day of special education summer school, no less!) so I didn't get many pics of trees and limbs and LIGHT POLES and POWER LINES in the roads. My 10 foot plus maple and the neighbors 8 foot lilac bush- both standing again, thankfully. My east side iris bed- the actually blooming iris stalks are under the snow. The day before- June 9, with a forecast of half inch of rain, tops, and temps above freezing Yes, it kept snowing until after 2 in the afternoon, and power was not restored to alot of places (including my school) until noo- that was fun 9 elementary special ed students in a class with no power!

Okay, I know you'll laugh, but it works - especially if you have someone who either cares or can take orders: Golf Umbrellas. Yup. I went through a total loss of well over a hundred hosta Spring of '05. I was crabby all year. This year, I have fifteen golf umbrellas at the ready. My H already owned a half dozen, and we bought more cheapies. When it thunders and threatens, the Sum/Sub's require a whole umbrella. Most of the others can be sheltered up to five per umbrella. Get the kind without a curved handle and stick them in the ground a few inches near the centers. Yes, you will have to hurry if you're not paying attention. Yes, you will have to ignore the stares and neighborly comments. Yes, my grown offspring are ready to sign me over to the state. Westy

Mia, I second Moni's suggestion of fried green tomatoes. They're good, and you can put them on a BLT sandwich as the tomato part with a little cilantro mayonnaise and they're really good. There's other uses for green tomatoes too, including green tomato cake which tastes like a spice cake. If you like to can, you could make green piccalli which combines green tomatoes with onions, bell peppers, sugar, vinegar and spices to make a relish that can be eaten with hot dogs, red beans and rice, etc. You can make green tomato preserves. The ingredients in green tomato preserves are green tomatoes, lime juice, lime zest, fresh grated ginger, jalapeno peppers and sugar. If you want to make some and need the recipe, let me know and I'll post it. If you'll look at the attached link, there's a list of green tomato recipes at the left side of it. Lisa, Luckily crinums are really resilient and should bounce back well. I'm sorry your plants got hit so hard. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Green Tomato Recipes