Question
I have some young trees that have been outside since last fall. I am in Alabama so if you're in the southern US, you know how the weather is. The taller but younger tree is my Queensland Japanese Maple and my other tree is an Ornamental Orange Tree that I got from Sea World in, I think, 2002. It was about 3 feet tall and looking real good until winter came last year and it died... I thought. In the Spring, it started coming back and is now a little less than 1 foot tall. What can I do to protect them in this cold weather? I've thought about putting a 5 gal. bucket over the Orange but I'm not really sure what to do about the Maple. My other situation (that I almost forgot about) is my other house plants (that stay outside because of two cats and a Macaw). With the onset of the cold, they've been moved to my shop that has no windows. However, even though there's no insulation there, they are all in the center of the room surrounded by things like a box spring, power tools, hanging clothes, and at night, I keep a heat lamp and a couple of plant lights on them. Would this be sufficient for a while without taking them outside every afternoon? Some of them are in 8-10 gal pots. Thanks for your time and your advice,
Steven

Answer
The maple will be ok without any thing done --I would mulch around the tree with not more than 3 inches deep of organic mulch (pine straw is good) not piled up on the trunk.
The orange is very sensitive to the cold (roots need to be above 55 degrees to do well. It is normally a house plant except where the temperature is high in the winter (Florida). Mulching may help some but the winter die back may still continue.
The other questions are about house plants and I am not the best source for these. I would suggest you call the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service and ask one of their Horticulturist your questions on the house plants. Their number should be in your local phone book. They have experts that can help.