Let me add my voice to those who have successfully grown containerized bulbs through winter without problems. If the bulbs have been planted early enough to develop a root system, freezing weather/soil is not going to be a concern. They withstand cold temperatures more severe than that in the ground in many areas and containerized bulbs are pretty popular in areas that experience much colder winter temps than we do here in the PNW. If rotting occurs it is far more likely that saturated container soil or improper drainage was the culprit rather than the cold. For that reason, I have always stored my containerized bulbs out of the weather, either on a covered porch or in my carport. No cold protection or mulch.....just out of the rain. They've always been fine, even through last season's extended deep freeze. However, planting in a container now does pose some concerns. Until planted, the bulbs don't develop roots and I'd be cautious about exposing freshly planted bulbs (rootless) to the type of cold weather we are experiencing now. OTOH, it won't hurt to just hold the bulbs in a cool dark area until the soil thaws sufficiently to plant, in the next few days. Once they are safely tucked into the ground, they'll be fine.

I see your solution I don't like it. If the water from the downspout freezes in the vertical line it will prevent your discharge line from letting water exit from the sump pump. That verticals line can freeze gradually if the downspout is only dripping water into the vehicle line. If you don't have a good flow of water it will freeze before it gets to the end of the line no matter what drop vertically there is. It's referred to as slow flow freeze here. Drip freeze, drip freeze, repeat. A larger diameter line as Brickeeye suggests makes the problem worse because in a larger diameter line there is less water vertically in the line which means the depth of water is less and the flow is wider which helps it freeze faster. A shallow puddle will freeze faster than a deep puddle. Heat trace the exit line from the sump or at least insulate it with insulating pipe tape. Many sewage lines to cisterns and septic beds have frozen this year because in the wisdom of our county they changed the code from 3" discharge to 4" from the dwelling to the septic bed or cistern We have a bit of experience with freezing here. Some places have frozen water this year that never froze in the history of the home. If you think it won't freeze again this year what brings you to that conclusion? This will be a long winter and late spring. I've lived here on the Great Lakes for 60 years and never felt the cold and constant wind like this winter. My heat trace line is good to minus 40C and it froze, 40C is where centigrade and Fahrenheit meets. -40C is -40F. Edit, do not put heat tracing on this line, of there isn't any water in the line it will melt the PVC or ABS. This post was edited by SouthernCanuck on Fri, Feb 28, 14 at 9:35

I like to freeze each portion individually. In this manner if I want something and Jan or a guest wants something else, we can each get what we want without having any leftover waste. When I first began this process I did not have a Seal-a-Meal so I used Saran Wrap and forsome items like the twice baked potatoes I still use Saran Wrap because my Seal-a-Mael has a small vacuum pump that pulls the air out of the package. The problem here is that it also sucks the packaging down and flattens the appearance to much. Just make sure you cut the Saran Wrap large enough that you can wrap two layers. Rice & Pasta is simple. Just measure out a portion, drop it in a freezer bag, let it cool to room temp and pop in the freezer. You can then heat it in the microwave in seconds, open the pack and dump it on the plate. When making spaghetti you can put a portion of pasta in one bag and a portion of sauce in another. Heat them both in the microwave, dump the pasta on a plate, open the sauce pack, dump that on top and serve. Make a little side salad with a vinegarette, put a container of breadsticks on the table and perhaps a glass of wine, and dinner is served. Meatloaf is super easy. First make the meatloaf, then let it rest & cool. Even overnite in the fridge is fine. Once its cool and firm you can cut 1/2" thick slices, then put one or two slices in a bag & freeze. Later reheat in the bag to retain moisture, then dump it on a plate. Careful here. At my house the meatloaf seems to dissapear. I think its the midnight fairies robbing the freezer to make sandwiches.....LOL. Now before I give you my recipee for stuffed/baked chicken breast I have one small bone to pick with most ladies. Over the years I have had opportunity to cook in many ladies kitchens and invariably I find three essential items missing; a good meat tenderizing hammer, Commercial Salt Free Soup Base and corn starch. Notice, I said a "good" meat tenderizing hammer. A good meat tenderizing hammer has two pointed waffle faces. A course face on one end and a finer face on the opposite end, but what is even more important, it should have a smooth surface on the sides. The weights vary from about 2oz to nearly 10oz, but I find that a 3 to 4oz head works best. STUFFED BAKED CHICKEN BREAST- I buy my chicken breasts in bulk packs when they are on sale, and when I cook them I usually make about 12 to 18 portions at the same time. (I usually buy skinless & boneless, but if I find a good deal on breasts with bone & skin I can easily remove the skin and debone them). Lay a skinless/ boneless chicken breast on your cutting board with the skin side down, cover with a layer of Saran Wrap, then beginning in the middle of the breast and working outward around the breast, pound lightly with the smooth side of your meat tenderizing hammer. The idea is to pound it down to about 1/4" thick and spread out to about an 8" diameter. Make up a small pot of Stove Top stuffing and put a scoop of the stuffing in the center of the flattened chicken breast. Now fold all the sides up and place in a shallow 10x18 baking dish with the open sides down, and continue making the breasts until you have the dish full. Fill the dish about 1/2 full of chicken broth then sprinkle the smooth round tops of the breasts with a bit of Paparika & parsley flakes to add color, cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in a moderate oven (350degF) for about 30min then remove the foil and back a bit more until you get a light browning on the top of the breasts. Allow the breasts to cool to room temp then lift out and individually wrap for the freezer. And now a word about "Soup Base". Soup base is a product that appears like boulian but I find boulian way too salty for my taste. Soup base is made in Chicken, Beef, Pork & Ham flavoring and is primarily used as the base to make cooking stock or gravy. To make the chicken broth make a small pan of boiling water and add the soup base until you get the desired strenght of broth. (I just do it by eye, but I would guess its about 3tablespoons per pint of water.) To make a quick gravy, begin by making the soup base, then mix a couple tablespoons of cornstarch in 4 to 5oz of cold water (NOTE-cornstarch does not blend well in hot water, it will instantly form nasty lumps) With the broth still at a low simmer slowly add some of the corn starch water and wish briskly. The broth will begin to thichen into a gravy. Continue adding the cornstarch and wisking until you get the desired thickness in your gravy. When I serve the chicken breasts I serve with a baked potatoe and drizzle a bit of the chicken gravy over both the breast and the potatoe. I will tell you ahead of time, it is becoming very difficult to find the soup base. You may find it in some of the high end grocery stores, and on rare occassions they may have it at a walmart super store, but don't count on that. One good place to look for it is in a meat market that has retail sales and also supplies meats to local restaruants. The last time I bought it I had the chef at a local motel/conention center get it for me from his commercial purveyor. The soup base comes in a small glass or plastic jar about 3" in diameter and about 3-4" high.

I think you're overlooking a very important issue in the p. glauca example. If "contact with the ground" means only sitting on the ground, the walls of the container will lose heat at a much higher rate than if the pot were sunk into ground to its rim or insulated in some other way. Even a relatively large 5 gallon pot would drop to the -10 temperature pretty quickly with several days of -20 temperatures with highs only in the single numbers or low teens. Such temperatures accompanied by winds accelerates the process. Not too many years ago my area of Maine experienced around 8 days of sub-zero (-10 to -18) temperatures with highs barely reaching +10 and high winds nearly every day. There was no snow cover at all. Code requires water and septic pipes to be 4 feet down, but many people experienced frozen septic lines and water lines. In some cases, these refroze after an initial thawing. Many plants in the ground listed as Z4 hardy were killed outright, hellebores being a notable example. After a few days of this the ground surface temperature was certainly not 10 degrees higher than the air temperature. It was well below 0 at 18" and would have been supplying no heat to the bottom of a container sitting on the ground. One nursery lost a sizable number of Alberta spruces (Z3) even though they were under opaque plastic and microfoam. Those at the center of the pile were damaged but survived. Those on the perimeter were killed. The p. glauca example is really coincidental. Of course you are correct that no plant keels over dead the second the magic root killing temperature is reached. Once it is reached for a sufficient amount of time, however, the plant will die. Hardiness zone is irrelevant.