I'm about 45 miles NW of Detroit, we've had one light frost and lost a few things. Thought we'd get another last night but everything left still looks fine.

I'm from Rockwood, near Toronto. We have had 3 heavy frosts so far, last night included, and a few light ones. Fortunately, I have most of my tropicals in already.

Im about 30 miles outside Chicago in NW burbs.. no frost yet. They said we got down to 31F one night but no one in the area had any damage, my hostas are still HUGE and I still have all my flowers and bananas!

Keep on truckin...

I'm just outside of Ann Arbor MI and got a heavy frost on Oct 3 that turned the hosta to mush, about 150 feet from the house. the ones near the house/patio survived another week and are mush now.I do live in the county in a windy open area and I know that makes a differnce. In a way I don't mind because I'm tired of doing all this yard work. Just need to put a few more things in the compost bin, clean up the tools, and plant the free daffodils that I just got from Breck's.

Hey I'm in Canton, OH and here (in the city) we got our first frost on the morning of Oct. 18th. It wasn't very heavy though, thermometer said about 33F. I know that in low lying areas, they saw a heavier frost about Oct. 7/8th and a good hard freeze 29F-31F on the 18th. Still got stuff in bloom, but that will be ending soon, I'm sure, though it is supposed to be in the 70's this week... Indian summer???

I'm right in Ann Arbor and my MG vines and coleus are still alive. They're usually the first to go.

I'm in the Indiana suburbs, less than a mile from the lake. Supposedly been down to the low 30s, but even the uncovered impatiens are still fine. Morning glories aren't doing much anymore though.

I'm in a southern suburb of Milwaukee about 5 miles west of the lake. We had a light frost about 2 wks ago. It killed the coleus in my planters, but not in the ground. The basil got nipped a little too, but I trimmed that and it's ok now. Normally our 1st frost is around the 15th of Oct., but it was a little early. It's been ok at night since that frost. My hostas are a little ragged looking though. But I still have my flowering annuals and tomato plants. Our October isn't as bad as last year. Our 1st frost last year was Oct. 1st, and it just got colder after that.

Kat

I'm surprised - October 31st and my plants are still all alive (in NW Indiana)! Usually I'm pulling them all out (because the frost killed them) in the middle of October.

Im in the suburbs and we still havn't had a killing frost.. First time that my flowers have greeted trick-or-treaters along with the skeletons and ghosts!

I'm 30 miles East of Lake Michigan, more or less. Zone 5.

According to the USDA map, there's a Zone 6 area right along the lake. I'd be interested in talking to anyone who has experience of this.

We had a kill fr*st on October 4th.

Everything eased off after that, it was amazing how nice it got.

And the tomatoes in the greenhouse are still in bloom !

Maybe with the greenhouse to plant in I won't have the sn*w nightmares next Spring...

Gosh, I hate those.

If the east side of Lake Michigan is anything like the west, I'm pretty sure close proximity to the water buys a zone in winter. I'm close enough to the lake to hear it roar when it's rough. The water temps moderate the air temps, which buys a few extra frost-free nights both early and late in the growing season, and in five years, I've never seen an actual subzero temp. On the other hand, the tomatoes seem to yearn for the hot summers and clay-rich soil just a few miles (or even a few blocks) west. We haven't even had a light frost yet, but neither has WPalm. The Austin rose is blooming better than it has all season. But I bet in about a week, I'll be wishing I had your greenhouse!

I am in Toronto....No frost yet. Our coldest temperature since early May has been 3ºc/37ºf.

Rick

A couple of light frost nips here in Novi (15 miles NW of Detroit) over the past couple of weeks. Nothing serious yet, though...pretty amazing for Nov 1...my cannas with their deep purple foliage and even a few blooms are still standing tall in addition to lots of annuals...some zinnias are hanging in there, impatiens are on their last gasp (still sporting a few blossoms), dusty miller (plant this next year for silvery color from spring, summer and right into early winter...it even overwinters for me here...and boy, does it look great with the green/purple kale plants I picked up this fall), alyssum, marigolds (also VERY cold tolerant) and more...

But I don't mind all that much the plants that have given up for the winter and made their way into my compost bags...every square foot of bed I clear down to nice rich earth makes me think of spring and the things that will be bursting forth before we can even believe it...

And plus there's always seed-starting to keep my thumb green over winter!

We're going to get it again tonight. Cold night, clear skies, down to 0 celcius or 32 F. Yep, that will do it for the tropicals that I haven't brought in yet.

Snow here yesterday. We're just outside the town of Mount Forest, between Lake Huron and Lake Ontario. A few patches lingered today, but finally the sun came out and the temperatures warmed considerably.

Here in NE Ohio we are in for our first hard freeze tonight with 27F... I don't think I'll have much left in bloom other than pansies. I guess we have been fortunate though, its been a great fall.

Sunday was absolutely beautiful -sunny and warm. I planted about 12 clematis and tagged the new shrub garden. My partner planted the rest of the bulbs. By mid-afternoon, the temperature began dropping radically.
Snow again this morning. It can't stay. I haven't finished outside yet.

I'm still standing here...barely. I would guess we got down to about 36F last night--it was 39 by the time I got up. Roses, salvias and monkshood are still blooming and looking okay. Most of the hosta have mushed down (but not all). Some of the dahlias look nipped, but not devastated. Finally brought in the rest of the houseplants on Sunday and yanked the still-healthy tomato vines. It was colder in outlying Chicago suburbs. And I'm sure by the end of the week we'll get hit by a real frost and freeze.

Anyone still feeling relatively balmy? And anyone get a good look at the Northern Lights?

I missed the northern lights. Drat.
Incredibly warm here the past few days. We've gotten so much done. Another garden planted.
If the weather continues, I may start planting a few shrubs along the side of the driveway.
We're also hoping to begin making some new raised beds for propagating.
David phlox and a few others keep trying to bloom. Buddleia 'Honeycomb' keeps trying to make new flowers. It's bloomed virtually all summer (off and on.)
Daphne 'Carol Mackie' looks stunning. All hostas mushed a few weeks ago.

Snow. A few inches. I think this is it. Planting is over and winter has arrived.

I'm finally down for the count--we got about an inch of snow last night. It's mostly gone now, but the castor bean plants finally shriveled.

Anyone still standing?

I saw the Northern lights last time I drove up to TC from Marshall to see my folks. Oddly enough, by the time I hit somewhere around Cadillac, they were gone. I found that very weird. Don't know if it was just an unusually short show or what.