dpowell, I agree that not much has been done to answer your question. This crowd gets on the soap box when it comes to these pears, lol. There's really not much good we can say about the trees, sad to say. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be educated about what happened to your particular specimen. I would like to see some pictures. But right off the bat, I can tell you that what might appear to be a 'slight' injury to a tree, might actually have resulted in significant internal damage or the introduction of disease.

Not meaning to offend, but after reading these posts, it sounds like some of you are thinking that a normal winter dormancy in some of the plants are "freeze damage". I think Eureka mentioned how bad the daylillies look. True, some are evergreen, but even those can suffer leaf damage in freezing temps, but more are deciduous and do die back in winter, but the roots don't freeze so they aren't killed and will come back again with spring warm temps. Those things even survive in the midwest and colder zones. I think we're all spoiled by having such a long growing season and having so many evergreen plants in our gardens, that when the cold knocks them into dormancy, we often think they're dead from freeze. Often, this is not the case. They may look terrible, but leave them be until spring and you'll be surprised at what pops right back. True, many of us do push our zonal limits, and some plants, esp. the more sensitive tropicals, might not survive, esp. if they aren't established. Even then, in a milder climate zone like the SF Bay Area, many of those will come back again from the roots. A few examples... In the freeze of 1998, (19F for over a week...my pond even stayed frozen!) my 15 yr. old lemon turned black and defoliated, but as soon as it warmed up, here came new foliage. Hibiscus will go deciduous, but comes back again. Bananas often turn black, but push out new growth in spring/early summer. Personally, I'm a zone pusher, but I usually try to plant the really sensitive things close to the house, under eaves or evergreen trees or surround them with hardier plantings that offer a bit of protection or warmer microclimate. So, that's just my 2 cents worth. I think people worry too much and think plants are "frosted" that are just going into normal dormancy or think sensitive plants are "dead" when they're just experiencing temps too cold to keep their foliage. wanda

Mimi, the snake trap is fine as long as you monitor it. If a snake becomes trapped, you must be nearby to release it or it can become entangled and die. Instead, I recommend that you baffle your nestboxes--I use the stovepipe baffle on all 35+ nestboxes that I monitor and I have never lost an egg, nestling or adult bird to a climbing predator. The stovepipe I use is 6" in diameter and 24" long . . . others use 8" diameter stovepipe. It is important to install the baffles so that they wobble as this keeps climbing predators such as raccoons from being able to shimmy up to the nestbox. I also recommend using the hardware cloth (as shown on the link below) as this entices snakes to climb inside the baffle towards daylight. Since they cannot get through the hardware cloth, they become frustrated and leave. I know for certain that there are snakes at all my nestbox locations, including the ones here at the house, and I also know that these baffles work and are doing their job! Kathy Here is a link that might be useful: Predator Baffles

itrom.......Last year when chickadees took over our fave BB box after so many year of having only BBs in the box there were reclaim fights but the BBs did not win and we never saw any all summer and that was sad. That particular box is the one we can see easily and we love to watch them and take photos. There are two other boxes nearby so I kept asking myself why can't the cute chickadees just use those...lol. BBs have moved into the fave box and I hope there is peace! Good luck and enjoy whatever nests ...or...put up another box and if you do make sure you follow instructions as to how far from the fist one.