except for the tub of water ... i wouldnt waste too much time worrying about them ..... they shouldnt have been submerged for to long in water .... they need air and all .... but i will presume you knew that .... bottom line.. i have no experience with lobolly .. i have no experience in zone 8 .... but i cant really see where this is all that big a problem ... besides.. what will happen will happen .. i am sure you were going to lose some of the 200 [surely you didnt expect 100% success] .... and how you will be able to relate that loss to this freeze is beyond me ... forestry sold them to you .. for planting this time of year... i dont know how they could have messed it all up that much ... now.. like i said... if you want to hear about a real freeze .. i will be willing to tel you about waking up last morning to 1.7 F .... up to a scorching 3.2 by 930am .... and a high for the day of 12 .... with 10 to 20 mph winds ... man if you pines cant take a little ice .. they are tards.. lol ... and would have probably committed suicide at first rain .... i would be curious what forestry would tell you.. if you have time to call them ... and one final thought.. when i have a wad of seedlings ... i dampen some medium .... and plant the whole wad in a large pot .... i found it easier to take care of the roots.. rather than a plastic bag ... a bucket of water.. etc .... good luck ken

I have never lost a perennial to frost/freeze. I've been wintersowing for 6+ years and I've done over 100 containers every year. The only plants I've lost are those that never germinated, tender annuals that got caught in a late frost, and some that got fried in their containers when the weather got unexpectedly warm. The wonderful thing about wintersowing perennials is that nature does all the work. The seeds won't sprout until they're good and ready. They know best. We just have to trust them and leave them be. Martha

No Lucy...more like a weak spine. It's a scary event to move those big things for me...you have no idea how threatened I feel to do such work with my spine/neck as they are. Do you think I'd give them up...nooooo. I'm finding it hard to rationalize this out. I'm looking for doubles now...??? lol I've partially defoliated them and cleared out surface plants from around them so as to make butt space for digging them out but that's as far as I've gotten so far. The 2 years prior, I have been able to keep them out until around Nov.7th. If it gets a too much a threat for comfort, I'll wrap the stalks up and on top of the roots but not the green branches, I don't need them anyway. Usually there's 1 to 3 night in a row that get me wrapping them up but I get to keep them another couple of weeks or so...I think it's worth it. To defoliate, de-branch, dig up and clean up after the one biggest Charlie is enough to do me in for a few days. So I have to consider that now, as this year I have 3 other Charlies and a white one that are in the ground. All much bigger than last year. Not to mention the other overwinterers like my dipladenia (like mandevilla) and my bouganvillia which sleep with the brugs. And the other garden work... Many of us must consider we are getting degenerated, and we don't need our beloved plants being hated for being responsible for cripling us and don't think it ain't possible. Chronic pain is a REAL living thing once it's moved in YOUR body. For the love of the brug. One job at a time. May God keep you all spiritually strong when all temporary things fail you. Take Care - Sandy

Follow-up: turned out that I had slightly under-estimated the number of seedlings, since I'd just grabbed buckets of leaf duff with them buried in it. There were 68 all told, and every one different in leaf shape and color. (Is this the norm?) I potted them up in some pretty bad "loam" delivered by a contractor for something else, and got them established before winter. All but one survived potting. I have an unheated greenhouse/solarium attached to the house, and put them out there until November, when the leaves dropped. Then moved them into complete shade under the table to prevent sun scald and freeze-thaw. Kept them moist - probably too wet - and put them up in the sun again in March. All survived except for two that a chipmunk nibbled and two others that may hove gotten too wet or dry. They are out in open ground now, and as they reach 16" I'm transplanting them to final locations (or giving away). The forty or so I'll be leaving in the ground this year I'll probably mulch with wood chips, unless there's a better suggestion. Thanks for all the good advice!