Thanks, Tee. So well thought out, laid out and informative.

Appreciate that, Sherry. Gardening here is much different than my West Coast gardening was. Quite a learning curve on some things. I'm still in the process.

Very different..lol. I spent a couple of separate winters in Iowa and couldn't believe the trouble people would go to in order to save their plants, or get through winter....lots of determination on the part of people in colder climes...and now to have to deal with so much drought on top of all that. Gardners are pretty tough people...lol.

You can say that again. I used to just plant things in the ground out there and hardly ever give them a second thought. It takes a lot more forethought, planning, and effort here to make sure things thrive and survive. Sometimes a whole lot more. Today at our winter Farmers' Market (if you can call it that), I bought a gorgeous head of organic cabbage and some lovely organic celery that had both just been pulled out of the ground this morning and still had the mud on them (organic mud, lol). The fact that our winter has been so warm this year allowed a bit for that, but those farmers went to great lengths and lots of work to keep those crops going here in February! Tough, tough folks. Looking out my window right now I see a few snowflakes.

Good article, and timely. We've only had one day of freezing temps. The grass never died, the weeds either. I'm battling Bermuda grass in my verbena out front in the hell strip. I think this summer is going to be a struggle. Looking back at photos from a few years ago, I see so many plants that just couldn't take the extreme temps and are gone. We have had a little rain, so maybe the bulbs will do well this spring. I can always hope. Isn't that what gardening is all about, anyway?

Thanks, Sandi. Bermuda grass is the bane of my gardening existence. I think the only way to describe what you all have had is "brutal". I hope as well that your bulbs do well this spring and you have more rain. It's so hard to watch things you've planted and worked on take a beating like that. Yes, what would we gardeners do without hope??

I think it was Bermuda Grass that ruined my hands, years ago. We've had so little rain here and it doesn't look like we'll be getting any rescue for the rest of what remains of our 'winter'...so I'm finally digging up some things and letting a lot of what was formerly 'garden' revert back to brown grass in summer. I'm putting together my 'Ark'...two of everything to go into pots in the hopes that if we leave, it wil be to some place that gets rain and the water bills don't keep jumping astronomically....9-12" of rain per year just doesn't make it anymore. For years I justified $200-300 a month bills in summer, but no more. I can think of so many other things now to do with that money...like EAT.

I spoke too soon. It'll going to be 34 tonite and below freezing tomorrow night! After cooking out tonight, we just came in from covering all my ferns, as well as other tender stuff, I placed into the yard after such a mild winter. Maybe freeze will kill off a little Bermuda toooooo!

I do remember that, Sherry. Ugh. I grouse about some bone dry summers but with the amount of rainfall here, I can keep rain barrels full ... except for the one summer that even they ran dry.

Same here, Sandi. It is going down into the teens and we have about a 20-25 mph windchill out there right now. It's going to be a raw weekend. I pulled some of the daff blooms that are close to opening and brought them inside. They are quite hardy but down into the teens is pushing it. I at least want to see some of them be able to bloom this year.

I got up really early and checked the thermometer. It was 31, so I turned on the heater in the hoop off the patio. As soon as the sun came up, it warmed up. Tomorrow night will be windy with freezing temps. Guess we're having our winter a little late.

And here the azaleas & camellias are blooming, the turkey oaks have swollen leaf buds ready to pop, the wild cherry has begun to leaf out & there are some gorgeous small leafless trees covered with tiny white flowers (NOID to me as yet). We are predicted for a hard freeze tonight at 25 degrees followed by 2 nights of 21 degrees. Early spring followed by a winter snap.

The words Florida and freezing just don't go together in popular thinking. Well, TX either, for that matter.

Sandi, is there info about your hoop house on here somewhere?

Here's a couple of them. The second is the one that we attach to part of the patio in early December and remove by end of February.
First one is along the fence line between our yard and neighbors.

http://garden.org/articles/vie...
The thread "Temporary Greenhouse" in Greenhouses forum (scroll to top of thread)

Thank you. Do you have a lot of wind to contend with?

Yes, we're at the top of a hill and the north wind comes whistling in! We use batten tape (the black straps) anchored with tent spikes to keep the plastic from lifting. Rocks and the bottom of the plastic keep the cold and the critters out. The only times we've had a problem with the wind is when I've opened the side one up by rolling the plastic up and the wind picked up before I noticed it. Plastic blew over the fence, but only that side. The other side was connected to the fence, so we just threw the plastic back over the fence and over the hoop.

Very good and information article Tee!

Loved all the photo's!

Hardy makes me smile too , love roses, and I'm definitely a zone pusher although I seem to try and push north instead of south.

Thank you, Vic. Glad to have your contagious enthusiasm.

Do you have a lot of roses? Bet not as many as daylilies.

I only have 7 roses.

I don't have a lot of daylilies but it is the plant I have the most of. It is very hardy, most bloom for over a month, and I think it's just totally cool that that you can take the seeds from the pod, if you choose, and come with up many different colored daylilies.

I entered one in the db a few days ago that had been registered in the late 1800's and had over 200 child plants. Wow! I just love the history of them

I can see why. Very cool!