The coldest temperature at my house was -8F but I had five nights at -5F or lower. I had some winners and losers but I think I also benefited from solid snow cover for the coldest parts of the winter. I covered my trailing berries with row covers too. My Siskiyou and Kotata blackberries didn't have any dieback and kept most of their leaves. Both are already sprouting leaves and the Siskiyou are kicking up new cane sprouts already. Interestingly, the Kotata escaped vole damage although they were in between fully consumed plants. I think that because they are so thorny, that the voles decided to bypass them. My row of boysenberries were covered but could not lay flat, so they only had partial snow cover during the winter. They had some dieback but were impacted more by voles (mice) and cane borers. I lost about 80% of the canes in total. It does look like boysenberry (thorny) plants are reasonably hardy. I had a couple of boysenberry plants in pots that I moved inside in mid-winter (after the -8F temps) and they had about 30% winter kill but they are also leafed out and getting ready to bloom. My marionberry plants that were planted in ground had about 50% dieback but they also had some cane borer damage. They are leafing out now and I should have a decent amount of berries from them this year. Loganberry plants overwintered with about 30% dieback but they had decent loss from cane borers. They are popping leaves and canes now. My Obsidian blackberries died a horrible death from vole damage. There wasn't much left of them. I decided to pull them since they seemed to have a leaf curl problem last year anyway. My black diamond survived the winter but lost it canes to cane borers (I had to prune them off). I'm going to remove black diamond and replace it with Columbia Star. I did leave a wild treasure uncovered all winter and it survived but anything above the snow line died back. My semi-erect blackberries (triple crown and black satin) seem to have had little to no winter damage. Kiowa had minor dieback but it was to canes that would have been pruned back anyway, so there was no practical loss there. Surprisingly, I had two Kiowa canes that tip rooted (tip layer) which I though erect blackberries didn't do. PrimeArk 45 is sprouting leaves now but I'm not sure how much winter damage it incurred due to the fact that part of the canes had to be pruned anyway due to fruiting on the primocane part of the canes. I did let them grow too long and they didn't produce very many laterals which will impact summer fruiting. Ouachita seems to overwintered with little winter damage after pruning but they are starting to leaf out now which makes me nervous because our frost free date isn't until early May. It looks like all of my raspberries survived the winter fine. One interesting finding is Cascade Delight. It was uncovered and seems to have overwintered OK but is a 'Western' raspberry. It is starting to leaf out now. There might be some winter damage but I'll report back on that. I think you should try out Siskiyou, it seems like a pretty hardy trailing blackberry.

I work for one of the largest roofing companies in the country and I have seen it all. I completely disagree with the bitter responces to the Owens and GAF shingles posted above. I live in Houston Texas and have seen the builder grade crap these guys put up that never last more than 15 to 18 yaers. Or often even less! All we have ever used is GAF and Owens and we never lost even one roof from Hurricane Ike. If these shingles are used properly with the correct installation and materials they will stand the test of time. And hold up to winds of 130 MPH. And as for Cobra ridgevents, they can withstand 120 mile an hour winds if the correct nails are used to install them. There are many manufaturers of good shingles these days. Pick one. If they are installed correctly without the shortcuts of cut up shinlges used as starter strips instead of actual starter strips and timber tex ridge shinlges instead of cut up shinlge tabs across the ridge and by following the correct nailing patterns installed gently and not slamming them down into the shingle too hard you should have a roof that can last a life time. How else could these companies give a life time warrantie on their 30 year shingles these days if they were'nt made to last. Technologies in roofing is better than ever.

I used the Home Depot type that handymac describes for many years--they worked fine. I rarely had to go up and do any cleaning--when I did, it was so easy. I had one side tucked under the shingles, and the other side clipped to the edge of the gutter. Before that I had the similar type but without the extra mesh, and those allowed the locust leaves, maple flowers and maple seeds in. When I got new gutters I unfortunately got permanent gutter covers--don't know a brand name, flat perforated metal. The holes are small, and don't seem to let anything through, but because they sit flat on the gutter (actually tilt down slightly toward the wall) debris piles up and packs under the shingle overhang, so I have to climb up twice a year to clean it even though nothing is actually in the gutter itself. I had ice dams for the first time, too, after these were installed. Of course the guy who nstalled them won't return my calls about his "guarantee" that I wouldn't have to clean.

It is my understanding that the certain teed lawsuit is strictly for the organic shingles, correct? I have certain need New Horizon shingles that are NOT organic and are now discontinued....and the problems I'm having are the same as what I've read with the organic. Granules everywhere, blow off with a slight breeze, etc. (roof is only 9 yrs old) Will someone please start a classaction lawsuit regarding these shingles?? Any other options I have as a home owner?? I'd love to hear your suggestions and opinions. thanks!!!