Those of you who have been following my posts for the last several years know that I have frequently mentioned my “protected cold frame”. I have several cold frames, but only one is called the protected cold frame. This little cold frame has dome more to expand my horticultural horizons than anything else in my recent gardening experience. I’ve been able to grow plants in that cold frame which I once thought I would never be able to grow here. This cold frame is now in its third winter. The first two winters were relatively mild zone 8 winters for the most part: there were few extended periods of severe cold and the temperature only dipped into the zone 7 range briefly. This left me with nagging doubts about the true effectiveness of this frame. Last week we experienced some solid zone 7 winter conditions: for most of a three day period the temperature did not rise above the freezing point, and last Saturday morning the low temperature early in the morning was +3° F (about -16° C). As the cold front began to move in I closed the frame and covered it with a double ply tarp – and then crossed my fingers. It was with a genuine sense of trepidation that I opened the cold frame for the first time three days later on Sunday afternoon. The news was all good: other than some very minor burn where some foliage touched the glass, everything looked fine. Everything in this case includes such things as Amaryllis belladonna in full leaf, Lachenalia in full leaf, tazetta daffodils about to bloom, Freesia, Gladiolus, Sparaxis and Babiana in active growth, a full grown Cyclamen persicum from the florist months ago (still in bloom) and dozens and dozens of fascinating odds and ends. For those of you in similar climates who are not running a protected cold frame, you don’t know what you are missing. 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/