Just put something to hold the plastic off the plant like a TP made out of long posts or something depending on how tall it is and yes christmas lights put off a little extra heat as well. Make sure you water well before the freeze. You basically want to cover the plant to keep the cold wind from it and keep the frost from settling on it. I like breathable fabric if possible but make sure you undcover it during the day as long as its above freezing.

David, Fair enough. Yes, Ive seen the dustbowl, and know about "The Year Without a Summer", and I also know that the last time the earth was as warm as projected in 100 years, the forest prairie line was not near OKC down to Dallas, but much further west near Lubbock Texas. It is also thought that the over all winters were milder. Which actually gives me a big of hope so to speak. Though,hard data is lacking during that time. And FTR, I do think the current issues are partly caused by the natural cycles of NA climate. Specifically negative PDO, La Nina during a negative PDO, and unusually warm Atlantic (actually warmer than would be indicated by past climate) Have been saying that from the start. BUT hardly all of it. There was no May snow in Arkansas during the 30's. Nor did the Arctic ice melt as it is now. What's more, many of those records are now being broken. Lastly, those extremes tended to be one sided i.e. drought and heat, not lurching back and forth from one en to the other with basically no transition. I appreciate, you coming back to clarify, but I do disagree that we can't know for sure. inge, Do nothing is exactly what it sounds as though you are saying. It's thought that the Chinese lose more than 10% of their annual crop production due to reduction in sunlight intensity sunlight alone due to pollution, and that was in the 90's. Pollution has gotten far worse since then, so the number is certainly higher now. Where is there not pollution? Where do people not live and travel to and from? Some claim the atmosphere is too big to affect. If that were true why does it only weight on 14.7 pounds are sealevel? That is all the mass of the entire atmosphere above you at the very bottom of that atmosphere. Hardly an insurmountable amount The biological/climate system is only a thin skin around the earth, exactly where we live. To think that 7,000,000,000 people can't have an effect on climate contained in 14.7 pound columns of mass above them is simply ridiculous . Arktrees

Early watering of trees before a night time freeze ABSOLUTELY does give some protection in a "dry" climate or in any area of the country, for that matter, during a period with a low outside relative humidity. I would do exactly what Jose did to INTENTIONALLY increase the relative humidity around my little in ground trees. Water vapor is by far the largest green house gas that we have....man made or other wise....(Al Gore and his Global Warming crowd & our news Media would prefer that you not know this science fact). By increasing the water vapor in the areas around these trees, you WILL effectively trap some of the ground's "radiation" heat around those trees. What is trapped by this added water vapor is some of radiation heat that is quickly lost to the atmosphere after the sun goes down. Ever notice how hot a desert is in the daytime......and then how cold it is at night???? This large variation in temperature occurs simply because there is no humidity (water vapor) in the desert air. If there was some water vapor in the air, the daytime and night time temperatures wouldn't swing as much. If you could somehow increase the relative humidity of the desert air, it simply would not get as cold at night.....nor as hot during the daytime. I do agree, however, that there is also some good benefits to watering at the time of coldest temperature (closer to sunrise)....due to the latent heat of fusion effects that occur right at the freeing point (melting point) of water as it starts to change from the liquid phase (water) to the solid phase (ice). Too, it is because of this same latent effect that provides protection to fruit trees that have ice already on the branches. Keep the water sprinklers on even when you see ice (or frost) on the leaves and branches and this latent heat will keep the temperature from dropping below 32 deg. F.........that is a warm enough temperature to save a lot of trees from severe damage. Too, if somehow you can't prevent plain ole frost from forming on your trees (which can easily occur at temperatures as high as 40 deg F in my area)..........get at them with a sprinkler or hose pipe as soon as you see it and you WILL PREVENT some damage. I can get these kinds of "surprise" frosts in my area once in a while when the weather man was a bit off with his forecast..... Dan

I guess the OP is eating their words about now. :) I have wrapped perennials in row covers, and sheltered them from rain/snow. I wrapped my seeds in containers also in row covers. - I think they will be fine, bec. they have not germinated, but just to be safe.