I, too, would suggest using USPS Priority Mail or Next Day Air... and pay the extra dollar and change for a delivery confirmation! Write DO NOT FREEZE - LIVE PLANTS on the box, and you shouldn't have any problems. The Post Office is very good about getting Next Day Air and Priority packages to their destinations on time... especially if they have Delivery Confirmations. I've never had a problem. I haven't sent or received a package with warm packs yet... I think if the delivery is fast enough, they're not really necessary. The key is making sure the person at the destination can accept the package as soon as it arrives! We always track our packages online... I always send things so that a tracking number is part of the deal. I rarely use regular mail... always Priority or Next Day Air w/delivery confirmation. The bottom line is... it's winter in half the country right now... and anything CAN happen. Packages do get lost or delayed, or end up in strange hubs for redistribution and shipping... it's always best to wait until the weather is mild... but if you can't, it's best to pay for the fastest shipping method. And make certain to coordinate with the recipient so they're home when the package arrives! It's usually through sitting on a cold porch or in a cold mailbox that plants freeze... or in the case of summer, bake! Sending surprise packages of live items in inclement weather is not the smartest thing to do. Let common sense be your guide!

Hey Greg, I'm so glad you all had a good soaking rain today!!! Only wish that I could take the credit!!! LOL...But we all know who really deserves the credit... Mother Nature of course!!! as well as the big guy upstairs!!! We did receive a great shower this afternoon...so I quickly put out my rain barrals and placed them under the eaves. Within 15 minutes or so they were full...so of course I had to grab a few (6) of my five gallon buckets to fillup as well...The only problem was that the showers were so off ond on that I had to stay on the rain collection duty...Yes, I was completely soaked...Only plant lovers would do this for them right? I know that my neighbors wonder what I'm up to sometimes...but it's good for them to keep them guessing!!! LOL...Now I have collected in a matter of 45 minutes...70 gallons of rainwater. I guess it was worth getting drenched for that amount of water!!! It will be gone in a couple of days with this intense heat we are having...but I loved doing it today...I felt like a kid again!!! Hope that the storms that are forcasted for tommorow will reach you again...Put out those barrals!!! I'll be waiting to hear if you collected any amounts Greg!!! :) How are your Hardy Hibiscus doing? The Agaves? Enjoy the rest of your summer... Take care everyone!!! Laura in VB

Snow and ice....that's all we've had for weeks now. Tonight the temp is 14 degrees and VERY windy. Fortunately, most of my days off have coincided with the storms so I have been able to sew a lot this year. I did have one trip into work where the car just spun out of control and just kept turning around and around and I wound up in the opposite lane, facing the wrong way, and slammed up against a snow bank. Luckily (probably more than luck), no one was coming in either direction and a couple of men stopped and got me out of the snowbank. Very scarry. I'm off tomorrow and it will be a sew today.

I would be leery about putting them in water buckets. If the water freezes you can kiss the roots goodbye. I would leave them alone except for an occasional watering only on warmer days when the plant can take it up. They're dormant and at this point that's how you want them to stay. Potting them may encourage them to start to sprout. If they do and it freezes again you will lose all that new growth and the rose will have to begin again. They can only due that a few times before they run out of stored energy and fail to come out of dormancy.