Nicholas: I feel your pain! I live in Roxboro, NC where the Raliegh news
media comes to take pictures of snow each winter. When I first moved here
the temperatures were zone 8 for a couple of years but recent winters have
put us back into zone 7. When I moved here I had an extensive breeding
program with Lycoris (ongoing for 9 years) and another with Zephyranthes.
But one harsh winter wiped me out. The Lycoris would have made it but for
the fact they were all in pots.

We had the same freaky weather as you this week. I am not sure where you
are in NC. The Lorapetulums lost their flowers and new growth but other
than some new pots fresh from Lowes of Hydrangia the the Hydrangia in the
ground were fine. All around me people reported 27 degrees F. but it seems
my hilltop must have shed much of the coldest air. The Crinums look OK.

Before the cold I moved a couple hundred pots of various bulbs into my
garage and plan to keep them there until Sunday. Saturday night may be the
last freeze, I hope. Your venting gave me some encouragement. Sometimes it
seems that gardening is barely worth the effort. I am still mourning the
nine years of Lycoris breeding lost a few years back, but I should have
brought those pots in. I feel this time I at least partly dodged the
bullet. I can not wait to bring out the several hundred bulb pots that are
dormant in my basement, mostly caladiums and achimines. Of special note, I
left about a dozen pots of Oxalis triangularis out and they weathered the
cold with no damage.