I just looked at the 10-day weather forecast. 28 for a low on Saturday, and lows in the low 30s all next week. I'll have to do a triage to figure out what vegetables can be saved and what are worth saving. The melons and zucchinis are goners. After the freeze, I'll pull what's left and compost it. I have one row cover. I can drape it over the tomatoes, over the broccoli and potatoes, or over the carrots and lettuce. I might opt for the carrots and lettuce. The broccoli will probably be okay even at 28. They never formed heads, anyway, so even if they go I guess I'm not losing anything. The tomato plants do have small tomatoes, but it will probably take another three weeks to get anything edible, and I just don't think that's going to happen. So that leaves the greens and the carrots. The potatoes will probably die, but it's harvest time for them, anyway. From what I understand, though, I'm not supposed to harvest until two weeks after they die back entirely. That will put it into November. I don't want the tubers to freeze solid. That's my job, after I cook and mash them. I guess the Brussels sprouts will be okay. I've heard that frost makes them sweeter, but is 28 degrees too low? I also put in some fall crop brassica in September that are still small. I guess they won't head up, either. Next year, I'm going to plant too early instead of too late, and worry about spring freezes for a change.

Mara, did you read above that the star jasmines sold today in nurseries are likely to be the Madison variety even if not labeled as such? It seems when a superior cultivar is introduced and it's not possible to tell the difference by looks alone that it will be propagated rather than the old variety and if not named no royalties have to be paid. I was told that by someone in the nursery business when I was searching for Madison without success. I tend to believe it seeing how my neighbor James' plants were more hardy than what I had. Did the above ground stems on yours split? Keep us posted on whether they return and I will do the same.

Hi all! I'm glad that most of your plants did well! I've managed to kill about 25 seedlings (8-10 m.o), and I'm telling you... winter was rough for them. I've came to a conclusion that my cactus soil/coir/perlite mix is drying way too fast at summer and apparently too wet for winter. Bummer! In addition to my mix, I tortured them in every possible way... First I under water them, then I start water them once a week and they started to rot, then they got aphids and spider mites... Now those that survive all bald and stunted. Sigh... on the other hand my adult adeniums did well regardless of soil mix, I have them in different gritty and non-gritty mixes. They are just sitting there by the window and behaving. Some of them bloomed till December and then went dormant, now they're slowly waking up. All my plants are indoor under light and about 75 F. I'm prepared for the next season, got six bags of pumice and bark, will transplant my yearlings in spring. :) I still have about a hundred of them, but no more new seedlings for me this year. Now I worry about spring because where I live temps fluctuations are crazy, 80s during a day and 40s at night. At least my tomatoes doing good, petunias and geraniums started to bloom! Happy spring everybody!

We had record low temperatures down to 18 and 19 for a couple of days after we'd had record highs in the 80s 2 days before. Most of the roses were leafing out and many of them are definitely singled and lost some leaves but so far I don't see any that had been alive and are now dead. Some hardy roses were totally unfazed by that temperature AND the blizzard of 5 inches of snow two days ago. Sheesh. Talk about wild weather swings. For the most part roses are pretty adaptable particularly if they're in their preferred zones, but keep an eye on them for a few weeks till they start putting out new leaves. If the canes shrivel and dry up, cut them off and see if it'll regrow from the base. Cynthia