Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Single Brug mini-greenhouse, 1 by bettydee

bettydee wrote:
I have only one Brug planted in the ground — Audrey Hepburn. I have been experimenting on her. I want to find a way to keep her from dying down to the ground every winter. Reason: Once she starts to blooms, her flushes overlap so she appears as if she's almost always in bloom. So I want to get her blooming earlier in the year.

I planted her in the ground last year because she had outgrown her 18" pot. Last winter, I covered her with some burlap and bubble wrap. Bubble wrap (The way I used it last winter.) didn't work. I would run out on the day freezing weather was predicted and wrap her. First with burlap and then with bubble wrap. The hard winds would blow sections of wrap off exposing the bare branches or the tape would lose its adhesiveness and the bubble wrap sloughed off. Winter seemed to go on forever, I froze my hands and feet off and in the end I had nothing to show for it. She froze to within a few inches of the ground. She didn't start blooming until late August this summer.

This is my attempt at keeping her alive this winter: a mini-greenhouse. I don't have an outlet nearby and my DH has balked at installing one so I'm having to improvise other methods of keeping her warm. The frame is made from 3/4" PVC piping. The cover consists of one inner layer of bubble wrap strips (taped together with duct tape because I have lost track of the greenhouse film repair tape which should retain its adhesiveness in freezing weather) and 1 outer layer of thick plastic. I plan to clip heavy weight frost cloth to the inner side of the PVC frame trapping a dead zone of air in between. The main trunks and first 2 "Y"s of each will be covered with pipe insulation. I'll spray Freeze-Pruf on the rest of the plant. I know I'm using the present and future tense, but there is a reason for that. Winter and freezing temperatures arrived early and I haven't had a chance to implement all parts of my plan.