Have just completed wrapping up my garden during the past few days which now
looks like an old Indian Camp with white frost fleece tepees dotted about
the place. I would like to hear how other gardeners protect their more
tender plants while resisting putting them under glass or plastic frames and
such?

My tepees are made from 10' bamboo poles with either triangle or square
bases, I find them very useful for preserving young borderline hardy plants
which have yet to properly establish themselves.
In my experience the tepee shape shrugs off the worst of the high winds
(60-80mph) we have here and much of the rain. During the winter of 2001 for
example, we had 150 consecutive days of rain. It's this wet that causes
havoc particularly when coupled with the wind chill factor during
January/February winds which can blast into the garden and then do several
highly damaging laps inside it. The primary reason the Victorians enclosed
their gardens with high walls was never to provide weather protection - they
were too pragmatic for that - the walls were primarily built to keep out the
light-fingered.

I live at 600' altitude in SW England. Lowest winter temp is -5C/22F which
generally only lasts around 5 days out of 365. Generally night winter lows
are about 4C/39F but not yet! Currently around 7C/44F. All this is
ostensibly USDA Zone 9A!!!

Regards,
Mike Gilmore, Winsford Walled Garden