Hey Jeanne! I've been missing you! Are you all ready for us to fire up our new heaters tonight, hehe! I wrapped mine (5 in ground) around and around, for the last freeze and had to unwrap the next day due to high temps and the stalks were sweating after only 1 day. In our area, the temp fluctuates with such rapidness during the winter, I quickly decided that there was NO way I was going to wrap, unwrap, wrap.....all winter long. So.........after a brain burp this week I took all my bubble wrap and taped it together with Duct tape into narrow, but long bubble wrap bags. Tonight I will simply be slipping pre-made bags over my Brugs and securing them on tightly with the stretchy green tape. Then tomorrow if it's warm, off they'll go! Easypeasy! I will let you know how that works..Stay warm everybody!
p.s. I bought the narrow bubble wrap rolls at Dollar General for $1.00 a piece, and use 2 for a Brug bag, so it is costing me $2.00 per plant to protect.
This message was edited Nov 15, 2008 12:50 PM
Freeze coming what to do
Now, what is your address? Might have to make a "midnight visit" for brug bags. chuckle...not really. That is a very good idea. All I need now is acres of bubble wrap. I have 14 in ground and 3 of them are blooming today.
that's a good idea too Karen. Good to know we can get bubble wrap so cheap at Dollar General.
I have my plants in the greenhouse and will fire up the propane heater tonight. The oil De'longhi stays in the sunroom for when I don't fire up the stove. But I will fire up the wood stove this afternoon. I have left the brug and mandevellia vine in the workshop.
Ah Lou, you have your work cut out for you. I hate to lose anything blooming. Had to cut back my blooming boganvillea yesterday to get it in the greenhouse. Also trimmed up my surfinias and calibrochoas. All those pretty blossoms in the burn pile.
Looks like parts of Houston could have a Frost/Freeze tonight. Temps expected to ramp down slowly overnight to 38, 36, and maybe 34 degrees. Long, slow ramp-downs of temperature are the worst for plants. This is not like the usual 1-2 hour dip to 34 that some plants can shake off. This will be a prolonged cold.
I'm wrapping my tomato plants with blankets and row cover here in a few minutes. Best of luck to you all!
If we have a freeze, then we'll be beating last year's record-breaking Dec 1st frost by a full 2 weeks. Global W@rming my butt!
hehe, Lou, you can make a midnight brug bag run anytime! Seriously, next year all of my brugs will go into the ground, and I had to find an easier alternative than hand wrapping. I am at heart very lazy I fear, haha!
I'll be the guinnea pig with these 5 NOIDS and give ya'll test results.
All my brugs are going in the ground next year also. I'll be curious to see how your bubble blankets work. I don't see why they shouldn't. Keep us posted.
My front living room is full of brugs, plumeria, lilies, mandevilla -- doesn't look much like a living room - hehe --- There are some plants I didn't get to - just gonna find out how hardy they are -
Let us know. I have a 50/50 of plants inside and plants outside.
Christi
My plants are all jammed into the greenhouse and my 3 Brugs are wrapped. The two little ones were easy to wrap. The large one was frustrating. I kept remembering Tammie said she used 3 layers of bubblewrap. I wrapped the bottom 2' with several layers of burlap first then 3 layers of bubblewrap. The rest got two of burlap and 1 bubblewrap.
I have a number of small Vitex and pomegranate plants that need to go in the ground. Is it too late to do it now? I've read they'll continue to grow roots throughout winter in Texas. If I can get them in the ground this month, I'll have more room to move around and water in the greenhouse.
How low did you all go? and what does it look like this a.m.?
Oh my!!! We were out there last night bringing plants in and filled half of the garage because they said it might get down to 29. We finished at 11.30 p.m. and were making resolutions to not have that many plants next year, and then it only went down to 36, so no damage here.
I guess better safe than sorry, but it was no fun.
Josephine.
LOL Josephine. We recently had a discussion about not waiting until the last minute to drag plants in from outside when the cold weather approaches, remember that????
My DH dragged most of ours into the enclosed sunroom on Friday. The rest, we put up next to the house on the west side to protect them from the wind. It was down to 34º last night over here in my neighborhood and everything seems to have fared well.
All of the brugs are still looking pretty glorious...doesn't appear that they were hurt any.
Probably need to start another thread but I'm here so. Got a huge surprise yesterday when Broncbuster and family, Frostweed, Sheila and pbtxlady arrived at 1:00 PM to help "put the garden to bed". Sheila had mentioned such a thing a few weeks ago and I nixed it. Here they came anyway and I have never been so touched. Still makes me have tears this morning. My life has been enriched more than I can say since joining DG.
God Bless You, everyone.
Christi
OK all you smarty pants. I live in Liberty Hill and ALL my plants are in the house. Not a Greenhouse but my house. I'm determined to have tomatoes throught the winter so I have heirloom tomatoes, peppers, egg plant and various other plants in the kitchen and the entry. One of my cats mistook one of the pots for a litter box and my pet rabbit likes to get in the pots and dig!
Lisa, you can hang your tomatoes upside down and grow them that way. Of course, that might be more inviting for you cat! LOL
Anyway, you can use a milk jug, cut off the bottom, drill some holes near the neck for drainage and 3 or four holes near the bottom that you cut off. Use wire or heavy duty string to make a hanger through the holes near the bottom. Then, poke your plant through the spout (leaves sticking out where you'd pour the milk from), add dirt and hang. If you've got a nice sunny window, you could hang it from the top of the window somewhere, but make sure you have a way for the drained water to be caught.
When I went to bed at 3:00 AM, the temperature out under the oak tree was 37ºF. It's usually 2 - 3ºF colder out in the open. The coldest temperatures occur between 5 - 7:00AM. I need to replace out max-min thermometer. Plants are OK.
I put the Christmas lights around my plants in the greenhouse. Brought the big ones on the porch and covered them with sheets. I put boxes over the new plants in the ground and covered pots too big to move. Everybody came through great. We got doewn to 32. We had some frost.
At 11:45pm I went out to the greenhouse and lit the propane heater and put it on low. It kept the greenhouse at 52 all night. I am very pleased with this heating set up. The brugs in pots, poinsettias, devils trumpet and mandevellia vine were in the workshop. It got down to 50 in there. All the work was worth it. Now that I have the heating system set up I won't need the lights. I'll use them on nights like tonight where it goes down to 38. It looks neat to see the greenhouse glow in the night like that.
I am glad everyone came through so well. It was an answer to prayer for me. Lou I am so glad your brugs came through so well. You were truly blessed to have Dgers come and help. Such kindness does bring one to tears. :)
Everything on my porch did well enough. I couldn't get the blankets to cover the tops of somethings on the north side, but they seem ok. I used the Christmas tree lights. We're going to start putting things in the garage this week. Hoping to get the electric co. out here to hook up to the garage so that I can plug in heaters or somthing to keep all warm. With 3 windows won't need grow lights anymore.
However, my Dr. Suess, and Peach that are in the ground got burned on top and both were/are loaded with buds. I'm hoping that the frost didn't get the blooms but oh well. I'm hoping to have most if not all of my brugs in the ground by this time next year. This was one of my hibs before the blankets went on.
Josephine was working late at her own house last night because she spent so much time at my house during the day. Had spinal fusion 3 months ago and am doing just great but have been babied to death. Really makes me feel loved. I shall pass it on, you can be sure of that.
Christi
We had a light freeze...30.6°. I really wanted the white mistflower to keep blooming a little while longer for the butterflies, so had to put sheets over that and also some blooming milkweed that the butterflies also visit. Then I covered some potted plants outside. I don't think it was below freezing very long.
I covered my butterfly bushes and brought my surfinias and calibrochoas to the greenhouse so my butterflies would have something to eat too. Tomorrow everything is coming back out as our weather will be mild for the week. I'll just keep them near the greenhouse so I don't have to go all over the yard gathering them back up the next freeze.
Anne....I just got home and saw that my brugs got burnt a bit too but it seems like the buds are still ok. I'll get a better look at things in the morning. Do you know how low it actually got here?
Kim
I have never protected my butterfly bushes at all and they have never froze or shown any sign of damage. I did lose some annuals last night I was hoping they would last just a little longer. If I start hanging my tomatoes my family will really think I'm nuts.
Christi~That was such a nice thing for Josephine to do!! So glad she was able to come and help rescue all your plants.
I was still protecting plants, digging up plants and taking cuttings at 2 AM Saturday morning because the forecast had the predicted low falling to 29 which would mean it would be 26 at my house. The forecasters kept lowering the predicted low all day and stating that it was going to start freezing early and it would not be our typical freeze that lasted just a couple of hours. According to my thermometer, it went down to 35 right before daylight on Saturday morning.
On Friday, I had to recover my cheapy greenhouse because the UV rays destroyed the cover. My husband actually helped me without complaining. My 2 dogs even tried to help. :o) Because it had not been cold yet, I was fearful that the plants could not take a sudden hard freeze. Most of my plants made it through last winter without protection (Most of my really tender tropicals and many tender annuals went into the greenhouse) because the temperatures fell gradually. I was amazed at how well they handled freezes and asked myself why I had been covering them for years.
Many of my plants in containers are so large that they will no longer fit in my greenhouse so I had to wrap them in frost cloth or drag them in my house where they are almost touching the ceiling. My husband said he kept dreaming he was being attacked by a 10 foot tall red blooming hibiscus. I just did not have the heart to cut back most of my plants yet. I did take cuttings from my coleus, butchered my still blooming blue butterfly bush (Clerodendrum ugandense) and a couple of still blooming hibiscus so they would fit in my greenhouse. I could not bring myself to prune back my bougainvillea in hanging baskets due to the blooms so they are in my bathtubs in bath bathrooms.
I had planned on getting all of this done over a 3 day period; however, things came up that prevented me from doing so. I had told my husband I wanted to get everything done in an orderly and slow pace so I could enjoy doing it this year. I am amazed that I was able to pull or carry plants into the house by myself that are really heavy and that I had trouble with moving before. I guess the thought of them freezing gave me extra strength.
I was too tired to move plants back out Sunday.
Bless your heart Hazel, you really go through quite a routine.
Oh the things we do for our plants!!!
We got down to 32 Sunday am - it looks like everything I was unable to get to survived - I'm going to pot them up and bring them in this week (hopefully) if my health cooperates - everything inside is doing great
I wanted to tell you all that my "bubble brug bag" experiment was a resounding success for me, and my area. No cold or frost damage, plant stalks healthy as could be. The few leaves I left on were damaged by pulling over the bubble wrap, but that didn't bother me as I am through with babying for blooms, etc. with my outdoor ones. They soft green portions with the leafing are all cut off for the winter now. I'm just concerned with the main plant stalk. After two days of cold, I did notice moisture in the bags this morning but the plants seem unaffected as long as I removed the bags quickly to let them dry out in the sun. I will continue this experiment throughout the winter.
frostweed, we must really love 'em. :o) They are out of the house and back in fresh air again. I will be moving some out of the greenhouse, but not all of them. My outside brugs that I did not protect are blooming like crazy. The 16 open blooms on one in my backyard were beaten to death by the wind Friday night. I don't know if I am going to protect the stalks because they are so large now. I am afraid that they will grow so large that they will pull up out of the ground next summer.since there is not a lot of soil in the flowerbeds.
Kittylover, I'm glad your plants are okay.
darkmoondreamer, I am pleased that your "bubble brug bag" experiment worked like a charm. How large are your plants?
All I heard was near freezing. Dbf said that there was a frost on everything when he got up around 7, though it was gone when I got out around 10. Funny my brugs got bit but not the morning glories. Of course they're on the west side not the north like the brugs. The blooms may be ok, the leaves under the top big ones didn't seem affected.
Anne
htop my in grounds that I bagged were all at least 5 ft. tall....
I covered my butterfly bushes because they are in pots. I didn't have to cut them. I still have butterflies eating on them. When I put them in the ground next spring I won't worry with them.
I cut back my big boganvillea to get it in my greenhouse. I hated to, it was blooming. But it blooms on new growth so I should have plenty of flowers next bloom. I also cut back a rose in a pot. My smaller bogie I just covered on the front porch. It is full of blooms also. I hate cutting flwers off.
My 5 ft Cherub brug now has seven little buds. I'm glad to hear the bubble blankie worked Karen. I will use that next year. I'll probably buy bubble wrap all through the year.
The things we do to save our plants. We should write a book.
I'm a little surprised to hear that you guys worry about your butterfly bushes. I've only had mine two years, but--since I thought it was hardy--I haven't done anything special for it.
I planted mine last spring. Then I had to move it in the fall, to a sunnier location. I couldn't get all the roots, and it suffered. I thought it would die on me, but it didn't. It came back in the spring three times the size.
I doubt this winter will be as mild as last winter was, but I still think it will be okay. Remember, this is a plant that is considered an invasive exotic pest in some climates that are colder than here.
That is true, we had butterfly bushes up in Ohio. They would freeze back to the ground but then come back in the spring every year.
I don't do anything with my butterfly bush, except apply some more mulch to the base. I think (correct me if I'm wrong) that it flowers on old growth, so I don't cut it back either. However, we've had lots of very high winds throughout the past year, so I might have to stake it to keep it from blowing over!
My butterfly bushes are in pots. The plant has to be protected from freeze when in a pot. All plants do. Next year when they are in the ground they won't be a concern. They are very hardy.
They are predicting a freeze again tonight here in Arlington, so in with the plants again, I must change my ways, it is driving me crazy!!!
Bless your heart. Sure glad all of mine are in for the winter. May need to turn on the heater for the night in the tool barn. The little greenhouse holds the heat fairly well. Tonight will be a test.
My Brugs are all snug in their bubble bags again.....Man they are easy to use if they continue to prove themselves I will be SO happy!
This message was edited Nov 20, 2008 8:56 PM