chilly repercussions

Worried about the predicted cold, I brought most of my potted outdoor plants into the kitchen yesterday- all except the apple tree (too heavy to move) and the Echinacea pot (frozen to the balcony floor). They started to thaw out- trickles of water making little puddles under the pots. Then I learned belatedly that being kept in a heated room is not good because the plants will come out of dormancy, start to grow again, and not be able  to withstand cold properly if put outside once more.

So I shuffled them all outside again, but kept them close to the building walls, away from the windy edge. Tried to protect them as best I can. Some tucked into boxes with newspaper insulation, others towels stuffed around them. Bigger pots wrapped in bubble-wrap. Burlap blanketing as many as I could.

And it snowed last night. Just an inch or so but very, very cold. I went out midmorning today to see if they froze again. The uncovered pots had hard, cold soil again. The ones tucked into boxes and covered weren't quite frozen solid. I don't know what else to do, except put blankets over them? wait out the cold and see how many survive. The best thing I think would be to stick them in an unheated room or garage, but I don't have such.

Unfortunately I forgot that my Avocado was right in the path of the draft from the sliding door. This morning it looks totally wilted. I moved it into a corner of the kitchen were there are no drafts, but don't know if it will recover... maybe I killed it.