Snow will have little or nothing to do with the death of any plant, unless it crushes it to smithereens. As a matter of fact, snow is a wonderful insulator. It is the COLD temperatures that will cause the problems. If you've had long periods of extremely cold temperatures, your rosemary plants may not have been able to tolerate the winter. I agree that you should be patient before yanking anything from your garden. It may be that all you need to do is cut your plant all the way to the ground and let it rejuvenate. Rosemary is one of the many plants that respond beautifully to rejuvenation pruning. Cutting it all the way back will result in a far, far better plant than simply cutting out the dead parts (unless, of course, there are only a few dead branches here and there). In your location, rejuvenation pruning could be done within a few weeks. You certainly don't want to wait too long. Don't be afraid to make that cut. I do it to rosemary all the time. even if they haven't been damaged by the cold. I live the taste of the herb from juvenile wood rather than the mature wood.

I’m checking in on this thread seven years later (!) hoping someone has had some zone 6 success with Arp! I just got one from a highly reputable nursery here in southern New England (Logee’s in CT) and have it in a slightly raised bed with two boxwood flanking it for some protection. The garden is fenced on all sides and southern facing. We have such damp winters here, I’m worried—my experience with a plant labeled “arp” from Bonnie Plants via Home Depot (ya, i know) was a failure. That plant did not look at all like the tall, silvery Arp rosemary I got from Logee’s, so I’m hoping it was Mis-labeled. I’m curious about soil amendments—sand and gravel—and possibly a stretch Of exposed stone to the south that could collect & reflect heat in those deep winter days? My neighbor’s rosemary survives this past winter—it’s more and more like DC here in Rhode Island every year 😳 I’m taking cuttings indoors anyway ...

Wow, sleevendog, I like your stove. Grandma taught me to cook with the wood stove when I was young, but I haven't done it for several years. There is definitely a trick to gauging the heat! KatieC does lots of cooking with her wood stove too. The only crackers I've made are cheese crackers, but Lars posted this one: Lars Flatbread Ingredients 1-1/3 cups water (lukewarm) 2 tbsp dried malt extract (or 1 tbsp sugar) 1 tbsp instant dry yeast (or one package) 1/2 cup oat bran 1/2 cup rice bran 1/2 cup rice flour 2 tbsp canola oil 1 tbs olive oil 2 tsp salt 3 to 3-1/2 cups unbleached flour Toppings: 1 egg + 1 tbsp water (for brushing on top of dough)* Pour lukewarm water into a mixer bowl and add sugar (in your case). If you use liquid extract, you will have to double the amount and use less water. Whisk in yeast until all is dissolved. Then stir in oat bran, rice bran, and rice flour. Allow this mixture to rest for half an hour or more, and then add the oils. You can add less oil if you want a harder cracker. Then add 2 to 2-1/2 cups flour that has been sifted with the salt, and put the bowl in the machine with the dough hook. Mix at high speed (with the splash guard on) until blended. Then add flour in small increments until the dough makes a ball that is not too sticky. Finish kneading by hand, or simply place in a bowl that is lightly greased with olive oil, and allow to rise for a couple of hours, or leave it in the refrigerator covered overnight. I let my dough rise twice. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pinch balls of dough about 2-1/2 to 3" diameter and roll the dough on a floured surface into a rectangular shape as thin as possible. Prick the dough all over with a fork or docker and brush lightly with egg wash. Cut the dough into squares using a pizza cutter or ravioli cutter into the sizes you want. Transfer the dough, using a metal spatula, onto an ungreased baking sheet, and bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until toasty in appearance. You will need to watch them closely towards the end, as they will burn easily, once they are done. I use a toaster oven for most of them, but sometimes I bake them in the regular oven until almost done and then finish the untoasted ones in a toaster oven at a lower temperature - about 350ð for 2-5 minutes. You can always toast underdone ones later. *Note: My normal recipe uses a lot of seeds plus onion and garlic granules for toppings, which is why I use the egg wash. You can possibly omit the egg wash. Do not omit the rice bran and rice flour if you want the crackers to be crispy/crunchy. The oat bran also helps the crunchiness. You can make these crackers whatever size you want, which would be the advantage to making your own. I like the flavor when made with malt, but you probably will not want that. When it cools down here I'll have to make some, thanks for the "push" and the recipes. Annie

You might want to read (or listen) to the news piece NPR did on this subject, dated April 22 2015. Found in the Salt, titled http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/04/22/401536105/buzz-over-bee-health-new-pesticide-studies-rev-up-controversy I purchased several flats of thyme from HD a few days ago and found the same plastic marker shown above stating the plants were treated with neonics. These ground covering plants were to replace the lawn, as we are looking for water-saving alternatives to grass. What I find particularly disturbing is that in the NPR story, the study mentions that crop seeds are treated (coated) with this chemical. After the seed germinates (typically corn or soybeans), the plant grows, incorporating this nicotine compound into its cells. There is still enough active compound remaining in the plant after it has grown to a mature size, bearing flowers, to be an effective insecticide. The nicotine is found in the pollen and nectar of these flowers, and is consumed by bees. What?! That is a very powerful compound if what is coated on an individual seed is enough to deliver a dose to leaves and flowers after several months of growth. I mistakenly thought that most pesticides had to be sprayed on the plant repeatedly over the growing season. The benefit of a genetic alteration, like having a plant make a Bt protein, is that nothing is sprayed or added to the soil. But in this case, a seed treated with a coating is able to permeate every cell of the plant as it grows. I understand there are many chemicals used in agriculture that are labelled "systemics", but I envisioned that such a product required it to be liberally spread in the soil or sprayed on the leaves, where the plant takes it in and distributes throughout it's tissues. Somehow the idea that something coated on a seed could last this long is just not something I had considered. I certainly would never chose to use these chemicals in my garden. I hate to think this ground cover will harbor this compound for many months. I will have to research this some more before I decide what to do.