Welcome to GoY & the UK, Dinana:-) Sorry it's bad news on the Busy Lizzie front - they won't take any cold at all. Mine have already gone. If you have some specials you could try taking them indoors, but I think a cold frame won't give them enough protection. Taking cuttings to keep indoors might be a way forward as they'll be smaller than the parent plant.
And you might find a thermal vest useful for yourself too :-) it looks like a cold winter's coming.

Hi and welcome from me too Dinana. Afraid BL are annuals but very easy to grow from plug plants, which you could buy early and put in your cold? I am hoping for a mild winter this year as the last 2 were very cold and snowy for us and spring was one month behind too, best wishes Denise

Yes, and welcome to UK from me too.
In the housing market, the running axiom is "Location, location, location", but us gardeners in Uk adpat that to:
"PROTECTION, protection, protection!!!"
Anything will do: Fleece, bubble wrap, old socks, wooly jumpers, wood, paper, glass. etc.
Many views on this, but the optimum time to start protecting is when the night time temperature drops to 8C.
Remember, the biggest killer in Uk is not the cold - it is the wind!!!
Oh, you have such delights to come - the British springtime is probably the most glorious in the world!!!

Are you serious on annuals Jasonf? I would not expect them to survive as there growing season is for one year thats why we call them annuals? Lots of them self seed so we get some of them again next year

The only way you'll get those Busy Lizzies through a winter is to bring them into the house and keep them as houseplants - they are incredibly cold sensitive, keeling over immediately at the first hint of frost...
Beattie, why do you think its going to be a cold winter? Do you know something I don't?

Welcome to GOY.....my mother-in-law used to keep bizzy lizzies as houseplants and they flourished, although they did have a tendency to get a bit scraggly. As others have said, you could start again next year with plug plants and your coldframe or bring your plants indoors overwinter.

I'm an import too, Dinana...originally from British Columbia, Canada. Hope you're feeling settled in the UK. It feels like home to me now after coming here in 1983. :)

Thank you for comments ...i was born here i am from the Midlands just away a long time i have some lovely New Guinea Bizzies ,i might pot them and put them up in the back bedroom its a lovely warm room and afternoon sun is glorious ....i have had 2 winters now and i havent frozen so hopefully i can keep my plants warm too...thanks again

Bamboo, I'm just going on the winter getting off to an early start here. We usually have warmer autumns than we've had this year. We discussed turning the heating on the other evening, and it's only the middle of October! I've just had a look to see if I can find a long range forecast from the Met Office. For the last few years, you needed to listen carefully, then assume it will do the opposite to get the correct info. I guess that's why they decided not to release them any more - piece of news that trickled out last spring.

Phew, sigh of relief from me, I thought you were going to say that some wonder person who always gets it right had said it would be bad again this year. I'd be very surprised if it was, be very unusual to have two bad winters on the trot. But you're right, it is unusually cold this autumn- I had the heating on in September a few times as well.

We lit our log fire for the first time yesterday, so even here in 'sunny Spain' it's chilly!

Is that normal at this time of year, Nariz? Or are you experiencing an early winter chill, like us?

drc - no - oops - sorry - I wasn't thiking of annuals at all - I never grow the things, unless I chuck seed around, and whatever comes up, does it and then dies at end of year. Sorry, should have been clearer.

Weeeeell ..... it's sort of 'normal' Bamboo, although I think it was somewhere in early November last year - then again, we've been sitting on the balcony for lunch wearing T-shirts in December in previous years and on the odd day put the central heating on in September. I think we always tend to think of 'good times' as 'normal' but in actuality we're experiencing the same type of extreme weather changes as most of you in UK. Let's face it - we have to like it because we can't lump it! ;o)

We had a fabulous October last year - I remember sunbathing towards the end of it. And then November hit with sudden change to freezing cold..

Siberian swans think it's going to be a hard winter -
http://news.uk.msn.com/environment/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=155015601

"According to folklore, if the Bewick's swans arrive early then Britain could be in for a cold winter.

They touched down overnight - three weeks earlier than last year and the earliest arrival since 2003."

Wrap up your greenhouses, or something! cos the piece ends -

"It has been widely reported in the news that forecasters have predicted it will be just as cold this winter as last and the Bewick's' early arrival could support this, and could even mean we are in for an even colder winter this year."

Oh my word, now that's not what I want to hear, Beattie! I'd better leap off and tie up that Cordyline I planted in a customer's garden two months ago for a start. Still, I suppose I may get the chance to try out my spikey ice grippers - couldn't get them for love nor money last year, until late January, and we never had any more ice, just snow, after that.