Not I, Cynthia, as I require help both in and out.........I'll just wait a bit and hopefully, be sure. Good luck on fooling MN !!!!

Cynthia, you are a brave woman, but I'm thinking very seriously in taking up your kind of gambling as a hobby; not that gardening isn't a gambling hobby already. However, I feel like betting against the odds. I'm thinking of taking my bougies out of the greenhouse. The only thing is like Carrie, someone (namely Bob) has to help me and there is no way he is going to rush around putting them back if there is a freeze predicted. But then they are not terribly tender and could take some light freezes ... decisions, decisions. I might wait a few more days until the 10 day forcast goes a couple of days into March and that won't be long.

You are my garden gurus and you are very wise indeed. I can still drag pots around. My bougies were hit hard by rats. Never happened before. they never touched them all last spring and summer. Still not sure why now, there is plenty of food in the bird feeders.

Anyway, they won't be hard to move on out. Going to haul out the big Brug and let him sit near the GH door. Then I'll be watching the weather like a hawk.

BTW my favorite local nursery didn't have anything out on their open air tables today. Guess they are not gamblers either.

smiles
c

You're brave! I have a 3-day weekend planned for March 8 to get going in earnest ... guess I'm a chicken gambler. I did side dress perennials this past weekend because I'm itching to do something!

My two favorite nurseries don't have much out yet either. Ruibal's at the Dallas Farmers Market is starting to come to life though.

Cynthia, I hope you are right. The 10 day doesn't have any freezing temps, but some are pretty close. I'll probably take the bet on the 1st of March if the 10 day still looks good. I used to wait till the 7th before making the call, but I think the first is relatively safe.

The link below from the TV show Central Texas Gardener has some helpful information about what is safe to plant now and what we should wait on. The article points out that even though the air temps are warm the soil has not had time to warm up. That's good to know. However, I think many of my plants in pots will appreciate being taken out of my rather shady over wintering house and into more light and warmth so that's what I'm doing. I was going to plant some things like esperanza, but after reading this I think I'll wait a bit before planting in the ground.

Here is a link that might be useful: What can I plant in late winter? Is it too early for summer plants?

Mesquite and pecan trees are definitive when it comes to spring. Once they start leafing out you know spring is a go.

Phoenix, I think your comments are smart - watch mesquites and pecans. Forecast tonight in DFW is low of 34. No freezing in forecast, but it's still on the edge of chilly. Hate those early March freezes! Thank goodness my big pots are on rolling caster plant stands so I can be a little flexible. I don't have a hunk-o-man at my house, so there's only so much I can move stuff back and forth into and out of shelter! :)

robyn, I have some of the rolling stands too. I drug mine off the stands to get more sun. I'll be clencing tomorrow night. I have protection from the house and a big fountain, but don't know how much of a gambler I'll be if the forecast goes to freezing.....c
Oh, and to anyone ready to invest in the rolling stands, a cheaper stand without a rim to help hold the big pot on it is not a bargain....deep sigh I learned the hard way

I have to agree with phoenix, although I go by the mesquite trees as the pecans tend to leaf out later. I was so excited to see the "mesquite trees" by the road in bud yesterday morning...until my mother in SA said that she'd closely examined the mesquite trees at our old house and they're not even thinking about putting out leaves. Guess I was mistaken in what I thought were mesquites!

I am looking at starting the vegetable garden this weekend, at least getting it ready to plant the tomatoes next weekend. It's a raised bed, so hopefully it'll warm up sooner than the ground.

It froze at my house last night, and will again tonight. Winter is not quite through with me as yet...........this is why I don't gamble with putting them outside early. I have nothing but a barbed wire fence between the north pole and my plants so perhaps I get more winter than a lot of you even though I am in "the area" !!

Some of my lantana did not even die this year, and the geraniums in pots that I didn't get into the greenhouse are still green and thriving! I also noticed my passionvine hardly died back at all, and is putting out new growth. I am in west Austin. I'm not bringing my citrus trees or bougainvilla out of the greenhouse just yet, though.

It was 29 degrees this morning! I am glad that I didn't move anything yet!

It was 32 here this morning. I don't think there was any ice. I turned the heater back on in the greenhouse last night.

It was 29 at my house also, Pam, and I did have a thin layer of ice in the birdbaths.

And it's going to be cold again tonight. But maybe this will be the last one. Keep your fingers crossed!

Something struck my funny bone about this thread ... everyone (including me!) is hoping it's warm enough to get about the business of getting 'maters in the ground, pulling out the bougies from the garage ... basically saying "hurry up - get warm!"

Alas, in a few short months we'll be wishing we could have just a hint of sweater weather again! :)

Cynthia, agree on the "cheapo" rolling plant stands. I've also learned to put little blocks on the wheels. Had a 8' ficus and a 10' citrus roll clear across my slightly sloped patio one windy day last year, and they both rolled right off a 3' drop into the beds below. Wiped out a small azalea ... and the the ficus was cranky for weeks afterwards!

Robyn, your cranky ficus comment cracked me up!

So Cynthia, are the babies all tucked in with their winter blankies? I remember so many times when I was in a hurry to take the plants out, then had to hustle the blankets and buckets over everything :-) Good times!

I use hubby's furniture dolly to wheel my stuff out... when he is not at home anyway. He is a huge help with heavy stuff and loves the garden as much as I do. I am a lucky woman.

Don't believe it will be the last one, LynneMarie, Easter is the 29th of March, and we always have one around that time.

Colder here this morning. 30 degrees.

I gambled and squeaked by. None of the violas even drooped. I wasn'ttotally reckless, my pots are next to the house and protected by a hedge of Ducher roses that I did not prune. Whew!

Y'all are such wonderful company.....
c

Still ice in the birdbaths here at ten o'clock.

omigoodness, weather.com actually has chance of snow for DFW in forecast for Monday. Really?

(Bowed head) Dear Heavenly Father, we gardeners are joining together to ask that there be no more freezes so we can put our plants out early . . .

Amen!

I drug my Brug back into the greenhouse. Will roll the lemon tress with his first tiny buds back into the garage along with the kumquats. I guess the tropical hibiscus that can be rolled in will be. A sheet over the rubber tree. 30 degrees is a morning temp on Friday.....sigh nature wins

ALWAYS, Cynthia, ALWAYS !!!! I quit fighting with MN years ago because I NEVER won !!!!!

So sorry Cynthia. Since I'm south of you in San Antonio I have hopes that it won't freeze again in this locality. Bob has been busy on some landscape projects so I haven't asked him to help me take the bougies out of the green house, but the hard winds of the last few days has sure been hard on a few of the things I did take out; tearing leaves off Madagascar palm, breaking stems of the Iserine, etc.. Oh well, they'll grow back.

31 and frost here this morning. I hope it doesn't kill my only inground brug Xena. It has a couple of inches of green out. I cut several rosebuds yesterday hoping to save them.

It won't hurt your brug, Ruth, if you mulched or coverd the leaves. I have had to cover mine that sprouted early three times already, and they are fine when I uncover them.

Somebody spotted mesquite tree leaves coming out! It is officially SPRING here!

Spring, AGAIN. We had some 28 and 30 in the neighborhood but not in my micro climate.

Mesquite at Botanical Gardens

Spring officially starts Wednesday, says I. The forecast calls for low of 34 in Mesquite Tuesday night. Then it will be Spring. I too am not happy about this never ending winter. But it ends Wednesday morning. Finally.

Pam, my temperature prediction finally caught up to yours.............yippee.................in the eighties tomorrow.

I like the cool weather. It means my lettuce and Veg won't bolt. Summer will be here soon enough. Great for hiking and work in the woods. I hate chainsawing in the heat.

As Desi said to Lucy, "to itch, his own" !!!!