Fantastic! Thank you guys....close to a Monstera then, but their labelling could have been somewhat better! I shall try very hard to keep up the good work (although I suspect the plant's success is more down to the plant itself than to anything I'm doing!! - maybe it just likes my windowsill.....) Thanks again - I'm off to read up on it now :-)

I never cover anything that is a perennial in the ground. I wouldn't worry about your tulips, daffs, s-i-s, lamiums, cherries or blueberries at all (providing they are all in the ground and growing and not still in the costco/walmart bags.) Everything you've listed will do fine if already planted during your one-off overnight low of -2 to -5. (disclaimer: the only thing that needs to be covered during a one night overnight frost warning of -3 is you...grab yourself an extra blanket - leave your hardy non-annual plant alone, and sleep well knowing they will look fine in the morning)

You know? It is very interesting to see how everyone's trees adjust once the colder temps come along. It seems the majority of us exposing our trees to a comfortable cooler temp, whether in cold rooms, cool greenhouses, or in temps lower than the dry heated 70 or above house temps has better results during the winter. It seems that those of us that are storing them at cool temps for the short term are pretty much happy with this. I can tell you that when I was using lights and exposing my trees to very warm temps with the heat on, I was dealing with spindly growth and pests on a continual basis. It was so bad one year, that I threw them all out into a snowstorm, but one. Ryan, your observence of your trees doing better with shade makes a lot of sense. With very warm temps and limited sunlight, mine would always drop their leaves. The only way they would hold on was to give 12 or more hours of artificial light all winter, but then came other issues. Now with no lights and much cooler temps, they do well with just very little sunlight. I once accidently turned the heat on which kept temps way above the 70's by day in one room, and within that same week, many of my tree sshed leaves drastically. Eric, thanks, you are right. All I want to do is leave them out as long as I can too. I too fertilize heavily until last month, then lighten it a bit for the rest of the winter until Feb. Fab, every year my trees do the same. The mix takes it's time to dry out for about a month, and then they start responding to indoors again. They will take up water at a much faster rate. I really think trees know when they are comfortable with their new surroundings. Bugs!!! Bla....I hope you don't have to deal with them this winter! Very interesting to see how your trees respond once brought inside. Thanks to all of you for sharing. Mike

I think come June an July my whold front yard is going to be shade. I been watching the past few days no 1 area in the front yard gets more than an hour of sun a day. The yard is very small 20x 30 feet about the oaks are 25 yrs old so good sized trees. There not as many leaves on them now as there will be come summer so even tho the days are shorter now be more shade in summer or just as much. Not a lot of money to spend on yard an if hubby spends 100.00 on yard that a lot of money to him for a yard that he really does not care if there is grass or anything out there he could care less what it looks like. So what ever I do I have to know for a fact it will grow not just this yr but in years to come because he's not gonna want to fork over the money yearly. 1 big problem with the grass has been it's never been able to take root good before someone came along an scalped it with a mower. The yard needs a couple of years of grass only being cut 3 or 4 times a summer but the others in the community not about to let that happen because the yard will look unkept. Many of the yards has same problem in sun an shade no grass because it's never been allowed to grow an become good strong grass. Maybe I can lay cardboard then mulch a good bit of it set some ornaments out there not everyone likes yard art tho never going to please everyone tho.....