Mary Sue wrote, "In Northern California we probably need to protect from frost (or flooding as the case may be) this month as it is usually the coldest. In coastal northern California where most winters it doesn't get far below freezing so we can grow a lot of bulbs from areas that are much warmer in winter we occasionally get hit with a really cold night or two some years which can cause a lot of damage. So we check the temperatures at night before we go to bed, look at the weather report and look to see if there are stars or clouds. (Clouds means we'll probably be o.k.) If it is very cold and a good freeze is predicted and the stars are out we let the frost cloth down in the outside structure. If need be we'll cover benches and turn the heater on in the greenhouse so it's a little above freezing, but that's only if it is really going to be unusually cold." Well, in northern Oregon (the state just north of California, here in the West where states are big) it gets a lot worse, and it's doing it right now. Temperature has been down to 21 degrees F (minus 6 C) inside the vented bulb frames - a little warmer inside the solidly closed, snow-covered ones - the past two nights and now we are celebrating the breakup of the cold front with an ice storm. I hope those of you who got bulbs from me the past few years are increasing them nicely, because I'll have to get some of them back from you next summer. I expect massive die-off from this weather, which occurs about every fourth year here. The frames have no provision for heating. Three years ago most of the bulbs survived much colder temperatures, but that was in early December, before many of them had their leaves above ground. Fortunately, there has been about 10 inches (25 cm) of snow on the garden throughout the cold snap, with the peculiar likelihood that my only Crocus goulimyi to survive may be in the open ground. The floods come next, but I don't have to worry about that up on my ridgetop, though I hope I get to town and buy some coffee before the bridge goes out. In disgust, Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon