Well, thank you! Do you mean the one with thick red margins, or the one with thin red margins? Since they both seem to be near the center. At 12 o'clock we have Aeonium hawarthia 'Pin Wheels'. Thin red margins. One o'clock a plant we ID'd tentatively, but I would have to look for the id. The bell like blooms have a blue edge, a most spectacular plant! 2 & 3 are Sempervivens of some kind. 4, 4:30 is a Graptoveria of some type, perhaps a Graptopetalum. The center plant is Echeveria 'Red Edge', a fine specimen. This one is about 4 years, maybe 5 in this pot. Thick red margins. The next at 6 straight down is Sempervivens arachnoidea (?sp) And the 10 o'clock position is Crassula 'Morgans Pink' as far as I know. It blooms about 3 times a year, and no, I have no conclusive ID to say it is MP. There are a couple of crassulas tucked up under, but they hardly can be seen. Let me know if there is a question about the specific plant you were asking about.

Thanks so much for the quick response. First off, the tree is not at risk - it has done this for years. Yes, this tree is locally called a Tulip Magnolia. Its blossoms look like magnolias; large and waxy white and purple tinges. This is not the big magnolias I grew up with, but a relatively delicate thing (about the size of a dogwood or peach, both of which we also have) with big blooms. My yard also has apple, oak, maple, cherry, tulip poplar, weeping willow and some other trees, none of which behave like this. It's definitely triggered by weather changes, and going into shock ( like forcing blooms in paperwhites). I blame human tampering for the behavior, as I know enough basic science to know plants bloom for a reason and it wouldn't half bloom or bloom and then immediately die if conditions were right for it, and it was as nature intended. It takes a lot of energy to bloom, and winter is when plants need to conserve energy. It has done this all but the first year we lived here (so for 15 years), and it does it (buds) just before every weather change that causes a temperature drop. It usually goes ahead and blooms, but the blooms are dreadful - look like used toilet paper. We only get to see its beautiful true blooms on rare occasions ( some years not at all). We do get regular freezes, though it is usually too wet for snow (so we get ice instead). We get, typically, one or two light snows a year (last year we got 6" in one day - that was very unusual). Around the base of this tree we have crocus and paperwhites, which bloom beautifully in the same conditions. Thanks, for the link. I'll check it out. Laurel

Yes, I expect they will be just fine. They may look limp, even lay down flat in the bed if tall enough, and recover no worse for the wear when your weather warms. These are tough, don't worry about them :) Now if they were just tough enough to withstand the contractor who stood on a couple of mine when replacing a large window this week....

The concern being raised is that tender new growth is going to be subjected to low temperatures. This has nothing to do with hardiness of plants in a dormant state. While I doubt Japanese larches will have a problem around here this week, it wouldn't be impossible for those having budded out to be damaged--frosting of flowers and new growth of many garden plants is a chronic problem in places like England, where warm spells are followed by cold ones well into spring. And plants native to very cold climates are among the most susceptible to spring frost damage in less severe ones, in fact this is the most cited reason for species from continental Asia failing to succeed in mild maritime climates.