sun and snow

When it was 29° outside today, the inside of my coldframe was a nice 75°. More of my seedlings have sprouted! All the lettuces, the kale and marigolds. I have nearly a hundred percent germination so far (except for the oldest marigold seed). Lettuce:

Kale:

Outside in the back of the perennial bed, I uncovered my camellia. It looks fine. I left the cage around it, in case we have another very cold night I can just throw the sheet over it again.

My mints and lemon balm still look green and not too frostbitten, under their leaf mulch coverings. The rue is still green, I think it's hardier than I gave it credit for (or the thick mulch is doing good). But the two naked stems in lower left corner of pic are where I took the cuttings from- all the leaves dropped off.

Um, you're supposed to take cuttings well before frost date, so the plant has time to harden off properly. I did mine too late. I hope I didn't kill the whole thing. Well, if the two scions thrive I'll still have rue, and I won't make the mistake again (probably have enough plant now to keep all the japanese beetles away- such is my hope).