I'm worried about my tender peony & dahlia shoots, even those young perrenials I just put in. Should I try to cover them or do you think they'll be ok?
Yikes! Possible frost tonight...what should I cover?
I'm tellin' you THIS weather's enough to make ME schedule an appt. with my own boss (psychiatrist)!! Hopefully some of the more knowledgeable ones will come share their smarts!! I've avoided putting anything new out esp after viewing the forecast. Hopefully next week will bring some night temps at 50+
Cover the dahlias although it probably won't hurt them if they're close to the ground. Even if some of the growth is nipped it won't hurt the plant.
The peonies should be fine unless they have flower buds. If there are buds, cover them. If there aren't, again they might get nipped a bit but they will recover.
Generally, if you have anything that has flower buds, cover it or you will most likely lose your blooms for this year. If it's something that can't put out new foliage to replace any that's nipped, cover that too. If it's something that you normally wouldn't put outside until after frost, such as brugmansias, tropical plants, etc., even covering them may not do the trick. Might want to lug them inside or into the garage. At the very least, make sure they're in a warm spot (right next to house on south side) and cover them.
I'm more concerned about my flowering bulbs because many of them were just planted last fall and the plants as well as the flower buds could be damaged. The ones that have been in the ground for a year or more should be okay although you'll lose flower buds if they're not covered.
You may also want to cover the perennials that are just emerging only to keep them from being set back by the frost. I'm going to cover my smaller lilacs because I don't want the flower buds killed but I know the shrubs themselves won't be hurt by it.
You can use old sheets or burlap, cardboard boxes, anything that will keep the frost from touching the plants. If you use plastic, make absolutely sure you remove it first thing in the morning so your plants won't smother or cook. I have used black garbage bags even though they're not the best but in a pinch they have worked for me. Don't use white or clear plastic.
Luckily we're having warm days which at least warms the ground and gives a little protection.
How did you make out? It only went down to 33F here - they predicted 28. It's supposed to be 77 on friday!
I don't think we actually had any frost. I had brought tropicals back in a Sunday cuz it was so chilly that evening. I only covered a few new seedlings that are hardneing off.
I was able to cover most everything, thank goodness. It all looks good this morning. But sometimes, I don't discover the harm till later. Phew!!! I was so worried.
Thanks for the advice hart, those boxes & sheets came in real handy. I need to save & figure a place to put these kinds of things.
claypa, we went down to 29* last night! They say we'll probably go below freezing tonight too. So glad everyone is so helpful here at DG. I love this place! Hoping everyone has a great day!
I didn't cover anything - and it's all still looking great...course any seedlings/tropicals made their way back in Sun. much like Sally's! Gotta get up early and put their happy selves BACK out come Fri..."here comes the sun..."
I didn't cover anything either and I'm sure it went down past freezing. It was 33 when I went to bed. Everything is fine today. I think the warm days are helping by keeping the ground warm which is at least protecting the things that are close to the ground. It helps too that the lows are so close to freezing. It's the really cold dips that can do a lot of damage, when it plunges to 5 or 10 degrees on all that tender new growth.
I've found this hour by hour forecast to be really helpful. It's usually updated a lot more often than the regular forecast too. This is for my area but if you enter your zip code at the top, you can get details for your area. Just get the main forecast and then click on hour by hour forecast.
http://www.accuweather.com/forecast-hourly.asp?partner=adcalerts&zipcode=22652&metric=0&hbhday=1&hbhhour=21
The 15 day forecast is helpful too.
http://www.accuweather.com/forecast-15day.asp?partner=adcalerts&traveler=0&zipcode=22652&metric=0
Whew - looks like Fri - Fri...we're in good shape - even night temps...that following week though grrrr nite temps back in the 40s...what the heck?