In my new 8 by 14 lean-to GH, I have two open windows into the house with a small window fan circulating air continually. This allows me to not have to vent and waste hot air to the outside as well as help moderate temps. I added one of the small oil filled electric radiators listed above, trying to keep the temps above 55 at night. With the radiator, continual fan and 15 hour a day lights, I was worried how crazy the electric bills would be - could end up with some expensive tomatos. But after the the expense of building the GH and loving growing the plants, I would not have changed a thing. I did turn the thermastat down in my home to help compensate for the added GH. I just got the first electic bill since adding the heater. I used 3KWhours per day less this month than the same month last year. Maybe I should add more lights. :) Carol Here is a link that might be useful: pictures of lean-to greenhouse

Glad this post has been helpful and thanks to folks for filling in points that I'd missed. Michael and Kate are right that burying the graft (the knobby part) of a rose is one of the better winter survival strategies for a rose, since the couple of inches that need to survive are under the ground, and the ground protects that graft. A little leaf coverage around the base, including well-shredded miscellaneous leaves as Seil says, can add all the protection many of us need. Since that leaf coverage also provides spring mulch around the rose, it's a terrific strategy for lazy gardeners like me! Jim, you are indeed cruel, but not necessarily too early in your post. We had 3 feet of snow in western Nebraska last week, and parts of the Dakotas and Colorado are still digging out. Toolbelt - don't waste any time kicking yourself over missed insights in past years of not knowing about GW. Just keep joining in the fun of the discussions, and sharing what you've learned with your friends and neighbors, so they get hooked on the rose bug too! Zaphod, all of these principles apply to band roses as much as any other type of rose, with the added caution that the tender canes are more susceptible to things like moisture and critter gnawing. I plant all my bands in the ground too, though I try not to buy them too late in the summer, and any relatively scrawny plant is going to benefit more from winter protection than a well-established rooted plant. However, even a little canker or squashing from your protection methods can be enough to make it give up, if it doesn't have much of a root system. My method stays the same, to put protection around but not touching the rose, and one-twig wonders, I may make that protection as high as the rose (not usually a problem for scrawny runts) but make sure nothing is touching the base. Beyond that, I keep track of how poor the growth is in its first year, and I might try a more substantial plant (or heaven help me, keeping in a pot over winter like Seil suggests) if it doesn't grow fast enough to survive as a band. Bottom line is give some basic protection a try, but don't kill baby bands with too much material over their little heads. Cynthia

Softmentor - You are very right on the many number of factors that determine cold hardiness (others we did not mention: acclamation to cold and overall health of the tree)...there is certainly no "magic number." I have found that upper 20's for a few hours are fine for oranges, grapefruit, and meyer lemons. Other lemons, citrons, limes, etc. wouldn't like that I am sure. From my understanding, Trifoliate orange rootstalk actually does add some protection because it is the only citrus that goes completely dormant in the winter. According to John Panzarella (a local citrus guru for Southeast Texas), "PT goes dormant in the winter, so reduces the water flow to the scion and gives the scion a few degrees of cold protection. PT will not start growing and producing tender new growth with a few days of warm weather in the winter." The last sentence is especially important for Texas, as in the winter we have frequent gulf breezes battling arctic cold fronts. So far, here are my unprotected lows for my varieties: Rio Red Grapefruits (2 trees planted at the same time by previous owner)- 26 F (4 years old, south side of house, pine trees overhead) -- tree was covered in snow (maybe insulated it a bit??), I was very surprised that there was no damage. Okistu Satsuma - 29 F (planted fall 2008, north side in the yard, no overhead protection at all) Meyer Lemon - 28 F (planted spring 2007, north side of house, no overhead protection) Moro Blood Orange - 28 F (planted spring 2007, in yard with no protection) Lakeland Limequat - 29 F (planted fall 2008, north side of house, 2 feet from brick exterior of house) As you can see, this is a very small sample size and only a brief history of data. Last winter was pretty warm, as has this winter so far. I wish I had a better way of measuring the length of the freeze and other variables.

Well just got the beds watered down and and a few of the more rare hostas covered. I also covered Empress Wu as she is about 2.5 feet tall. The temperature right now is 47 degrees and forecast is for 28, 30 and 27 for the next three nights. I think it was Monday night this week the temperature went down to 31 degrees and all the hostas had frost on the foliage. Not a single plant was damaged. We had just gone through the big rain storm so the ground was quite wet so I'm thinking wet soil holds more heat than dry. The next three nights will be a true test of the Cornell study. Scott