Claudia, I too was at the Farmer's Market Festival yesterday and had a blast. We bought a large dragonfly piece from the ironworks booth and just a few plants for fun: -green japenese maple for around our pond shade -sample of Carolina phlox, something I've not grown before -solomon's seal -spike moss, which looked like a neat groundcover for the shade I'm brand new to this forum and still very new to gardening... I've learned in increments over the past 4-5 years but I'm still a newbie. Should I cover any of my emerging perennials tonight, to be safe? We haven't put anything new in, but will the frost do damage to new stuff coming up?

I don't think there has ever been any weather forecaster that has always been correct. I have never had much faith in them. I never count on their predictions for rain. I think my aching bones do a pretty good job letting me know when a storm is coming! lol

Barbara, I went out and harvested what I could today, and covered the beans and cukes, hoping to keep them producing at least one more week because they have lots of little beans and little cukes. I don't know what will happen here....might have frost or might not. We're in the 'iffy' zone. We had a high of 71 today and clear, sunny skies with light wind. The wind has pretty much stopped, the sky is still clear and that 71 degrees is a distant memory--it is now 52 degrees and falling fast. I'll be surprised if we don't go at least to 38 here. In a 'normal' year (if there is such a thing) we'll average one almost-freezing night a week from mid-Oct through mid-Nov, when the first hard freeze generally arrives. So far, we're right on track....one almost-freezing night last week, and now one due to arrive tonight. However, our daytime highs (until today) have been averaging 10-15 degrees below normal, so I've been expecting that early frost. Even if we have a hard freeze and lose everything, I don't normally clean out my garden until we're consistently having very cold nights and days......there's too many snakes slithering around as long as the days are marginally warm. Usually, we're pretty much snake-free by December and I can clean out the garden to my heart's content without running into a snake. Dawn

Purple, thanks, I could use the luck. :-) I may have taken on more than I can handle this year. Growing crazy amounts of out-of-zone plants. And I live in a small apartment. The jasmine I have is "Fiona Sunrise," aka "Frojas," which is J. officinale. Fiona's sturdier than she looks. This is one of the few container plants I have which I know can handle chilly temps. It's hardy to zone 7 or 8, depending on the source. I started with a sprig in a 2" pot last summer. The wee thing spent winter in my unheated attached garage which got down to the mid-30s. (That's where my dormant plants sleep.) Now I have her in a 10" pot with small bamboo canes. I'm still not clear on whether I should let it get hit by frost as a container plant. Some sources say to protect it because the roots don't have much soil to insulate them in a pot. Some say to let it get frosts until the leaves drop. Last year I brought it in before frost and the leaves dropped on their own in midwinter. Delrey, I must have misunderstood. I thought you were saying you left the canna outdoors, in a container, all year long, and it was fine. Hence the envy.