Jane, I feel your pain. This has happened to me, too, on occasion, typically when I have been called away from home and during my absence there has been an upheaval in the weather. But don’t despair: if the frames were closed before the temperatures plunged the damage will probably be minimal. Winters here in my Maryland garden are typically much colder than anything you experience; the sort of conditions you are currently dreading are typical of every winter here. Yet I don’t think I’ve ever lost a plant you sent me to winter cold (summer wet is another matter). I’ll bet that the worst that happens is that tender foliage touching the glass is burned. On second thought, there might be a significant difference between my conditions and yours. My cold frames are squat on the ground; they are not raised above ground level. The plants are either rooted into the ground or, if they are in pots, the bases of the pots are sunk into the ground. Even on the extremely rare occasions when outside conditions include temperatures below 10 degrees F, the ground inside the frame evidently never freezes. I chose this way of growing the plants because in our climate alpine houses and other arrangements where the pots are on tables well above the prevailing ground level are tricky and expensive to heat. If your plants are on tables elevated above ground level and with nothing but air between the ground and the underside of the tables, then the claims I’ve made based on my experience will be irrelevant. Somewhere in his Bulb Log Ian Young describes a night where one of his bulb houses either experienced a heater failure or the glass broke on a night when the temperatures plunged. All that I remember from his entry is that Tropaeolum azureum, which was in advanced growth at the time, came through unscathed. So be of good cheer, and I’m hoping it won’t be as bad as it might. I’ve put your name on a corm of Crocus hermoneus just in case. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/