Are you really going to have a hard freeze tonight? Most of the Maryland area is only going to the low 30s, not a hard freeze.

If you do have a hard freeze predicted, to protect your annuals, just make a tent out of a newspaper section and hold it in palce with rocks or dirt along the edges. Perennials will do fine without protection.

Now you now why the last freezedate is listed as April 15 in most of Maryland and May 1st in some places (leaving aside Garrett County and the rest of the foothills)

Thanks Kimka, Yes, we're going down to the mid 20s in my Middletown valley...I appreciate your tents of newspaper advice. I imagine my pansies will be OK. I have some tender herbs, seedlings of lettuce and greens, bazillions of daffodils, lots of fragrant hyacinths and a few dozen tulips already in bloom. Do they need to be covered?
I think I will make a huge bouquet and have Spring inside tonight.

It was snowing when I took 15 bags of sticks to the curb for yard waste pickup a few minutes ago.

Oooh Cynthia, Chilly working conditions! It is so cold here I have to drain the outside faucets and put my birdbath warmers back into the fountain. I hope the birds will enjoy the newspapers I laid on the delicate stuff from the hot tub in the morning, but I'm staying inside by the fire!