As mentioned earlier, watering plants several hours before a freeze is the first defense against damage. During a temporary cold snap, cover entire shrubs with burlap, sheets or blankets for insulation. For the best protection, use a frame to prevent the covering from touching the plants.
Just like humans, plants get cold and need protection from frigid temperatures. Evergreen shrubs can withstand flurries, but heavy snow and other hazards of the upcoming season can wreak havoc on these workhorse yard plantings.
Cover Plants – Protect plants from all but the hardest freeze (28°F for five hours) by covering them with sheets, towels, blankets, cardboard or a tarp. You can also invert baskets, coolers or any container with a solid bottom over plants. Cover plants before dark to trap warmer air.
Know Your Plants' Cold Tolerance
Some frost-tender plants need to be covered as soon as the temperature hits 32°F, while others can handle lower temperatures and/or longer freezing periods. You'll need to look up each of your plants to verify its cold tolerance.
Fabric coverings will prevent the freezing air from coming into direct contact with the moisture on the plant while also capturing the heat that is radiating from the ground. Bed sheets or comforters work best for covering large plants and shrubs.
A covered porch usually provides protection from light frost, but the garage or sun room is better for freezing temperatures. A couple days in darkness won't hurt the plant. Or move them out during the day and back in at night, if cold temperatures persist.
Here's what we recommend: Wrap with twine: If heavy snow is in the forecast, bind the branches with twine. Start at the bottom and work your way up in a spiral pattern. The end result is a conical-shaped shrub that won't catch nearly as much snow.
Winter is usually the best time.
If you live in an area with distinct winters, the time when shrubs have lost their leaves and become dormant is an excellent time to prune them. Without the leaves, you can easily see the branching structure of the shrub and decide what to cut.
(Hint: Watering is mandatory!) Despite the fact your plants are dormant and brown, they should still be watered periodically. Plants that remain dehydrated in winter months often don't survive until spring. Not only does this create extra landscaping costs in warmer months, it can actually damage your plumbing.
1. General Watering Timeline: If you haven't received precipitation in winter, it's crucial to water your plants. With dry weather, once a month winter watering is suggested. If the dry weather continues, you may need to go to twice-monthly watering.
“Most garden plants are tolerant of a brief freeze period—as long as the roots are still healthy, you'll typically see them recover just fine in the spring,” says Lindsay Pangborn, Gardening Expert at Bloomscape.
Use stakes or another support to keep the covering from directly touching the plants. Covering plants helps protect them from a freeze because it helps retain heat radiating from the soil and keeps them warm overnight.
From that experience, I've found the best frost protection for your outdoor plants is either free or cheap. Cardboard boxes and brown grocery sacks make perfect frost cover and at the end of the season can be recycled. I keep various boxes on the patio and when frost is forecast simply put one over the plant.
So even though the weather forecaster isn't predicting a freeze, once temperatures start to drop below 40°F you need to be aware. Once temperatures drop below 40°F, you may want to start covering your plants with a frost blanket depending on what you're growing, which we'll get into in just a bit.
I did some research and found out that houseplants need to be taken indoors before overnight temperatures dip below 45 degrees. Most tropical plants suffer harm from temperatures below 40 degrees. Well, we have temperatures forecast to dip into the 40s again on Thursday and lower 40s on Friday.
Use frost cloth, burlap, drop cloths, sheets, blankets, or even newspapers to cover plants. Do not use plastic.
Thoroughly Water plants if it's not going to rain before the freezing temperatures arrive. It may sound illogical. However, a moist ground stays warmer than dry soil. Watering the night before the freeze comes will insulate the root structure of the grass and plants and decreases the potential for cold injury.
When Should You Cover Plants? Cover your plants at night and remove them during the day when the temperatures rise above 32 degrees F, so that the soil can warm up again. Some outdoor plants won't survive the harsh conditions of winter, bring them inside and use these tips for caring for them through winter.
After “how?", the second most-asked question we get about pruning is “when?” (Or, "Can I prune this now?") The rule of thumb is to prune immediately after bloom for flowering shrubs, in late winter or early spring for non-blooming shrubs (particularly for heavy pruning), and not after mid-August for any shrubs.
Plastic bags are an essential tool for today's indoor gardeners. They are not only terrific plant sitters when you skip off for a winter weekend, they also help when your plant is not doing well. You can keep houseplants without water for several weeks in a polyethylene plastic bag.