Whoa! Death wish, huh? Wasn't lookin' for that. Jeri, except for Teas and Chinas, I think if it likes your cool, dry garden, it won't like mine - and vice versa :)) If Maggie likes Louisiana, she oughta like it here. I have fed her extra and watered her extra. Before our frigid weather last week, she had added a few leaves and looked like she wanted to do something. Elaine, how old is your Maggie? I'm sure my Maggie's feelings would be very hurt if she knew I was discussing her delicate condition at such a disadvantageous time. Nothing looks very good - except for my Teas and Chinas!! At this time she's a gawky, skinny girl. I think pretty soon she's going to come into her own though. (BTW, the yellow leaves are from the effects of the freezes, I think. One day all their leaves were green, and a couple days after the freeze, poof! yellow leaves with big BS spots!) And the green in the top right corner is not Maggie. Malcolm, so glad you like Crepuscule on her own roots here. I understand she's a little slow to build so I won't worry. What are the rest of "the few" that you recommend own-root? Denise, as you can see in the photo, mine threw up a long cane on one side, too. She's about 6' wide, 3' tall, not very deep, and decidedly one-sided. It took me until this past weekend to get SdlM BECAUSE she's a Bourbon (and I got 3!!!) Damn the torpedos! Full speed ahead! Robert, that's very interesting. And I guess at the first hint of warmth they'll be sprouting? Sherry

Strawberry farmers cause this running that much water for that many days the acwafer proably didn't spell this right drops 60 ft it creates this bad thing.That are homeownwers insurance does not cover sink holes. Goverment should step in and make them stop using the water wasteing it and buy frost cloth. This is a multi million dollar business the can afford to bite the bullet and buy it. Some growers have already started using it. Dana

yup, thats a mango seedling treefrog, thanks. Im in the smack center of CA in Fresno. I live in the central valley where we get LONG dry summers (typically above 110 degrees) and cool, short, wet winters (Dec and half of Jan). So far, we've had a couple of frosty mornings, but nothing to hard to protect any plants. There is only a bit of damage to dypsis lutescens, majesty palm, hibiscus and bouganvillea. Temperatures begin to rise quickly begining this first week of January so there is minimal danger for any more damage than what is shown in the pics above.

"I think the Florida / South cold weather *feels* as cold to the southerns as the cold feels to us in the Northeast". Really it doesn't. We know there's a big difference between 20 degrees and -20. I grew up in N.Dakota and lived there until after college so I've know what serious cold feels like and what 8 foot snow drifts look like. I remember going cross country skiing in Wisconsin when it was well below 0. THAT was cold. You're right though in that it's all relative. In the north and midwest, you're prepared for winter. Houses are built for it, people have the clothing for it. You can have extremes of cold or snow that can make it more dangerous or hard to deal with, but you're usually prepared. At -20 in North Dakota, our pipes didn't freeze because they were built to handle the cold. Here they often are run through our attics and freeze easily. Lots of us have solar heaters on our pools that are susceptible to freezing too; we've been running the pool pump at night for a week because if the solar piping freezes it will burst. At -20 in North Dakota, the farmers didn't panic because their crops are dormant during the winter. Here many citrus, fern/foliage and strawberry growers will lose their crops this year. I know ranchers and dairy farmers up north have it tough in extreme winters because they can lose part of their herd. The temps here won't harm cattle but the iguanas are dropping from the trees. (The iguana thing has been kind of amusing.) At -20 in North Dakota, people may have bundled up more than normal, but they owned coats, hats, scarves and expected to use them every winter. Many people here don't have the clothes for this! At -20 in North Dakota I didn't have roses and orchids blooming in January! Kate