Frosty Forecast? Tips For Covering Your Tender Plants.

     Here in the Atlanta area we tend to have crazy weather.  We've had a very cold winter this year but the past week has been sunny and warmer.  That's all it takes to make some of your plants think spring is here!  If you've got camellias or rhododendron with buds opening (or other early bloomers) they may appreciate being covered. 

How should I cover them?
     When covering plants you should use cloth (bedsheets, blankets, burlap) and drape it gently over the plant (using stakes to hold it up if necessary) and anchor it to the ground with rocks or garden gnomes. Be sure that your blanket is going all the way to the ground- the ground is going to stay warmer than the cold air temperatures and the blanket will help trap some of it around your plant.  Notice that I am saying blanket or cloth.  Do not use plastic.  Using plastic creates a greenhouse situation; when the sun comes up in the morning it rapidly increases the temperature under the plastic and can damage the plant more than if you'd just left it alone.  Rapid changes in temperature like this are detrimental to plants.  By the way, you need to remove the blanket in the morning to allow the plant to get some sunlight. 

Well, when should I cover them?
     Honestly, you don't have to cover them.  Camellias are notorious for having their buds killed by freezes before they bloom but the shrub will not die from spending the night uncovered. If you cannot live without your camellia blossoms, they're on the north side of an exposed hill, and it's supposed to get down to 23 after several sunny days of highs in the 50+s, cover them. This is pretty much what you risk with leaving shrubs uncovered- flower bud loss and foliage damage.  It's usually sustained cold that does the damage; one night of 25 isn't going to do much harm.  9 times out of 10 the plant will make a spectacular come back in the spring and you'd never know it happened.  Of course, there are times like a few years back when we had that hard freeze in April and it massacred all the hydrangeas... there was really nothing anyone could've done- that time of year there is a ton of tender new growth and that cold was just too extreme.

So really it's a guessing game.  How cold is it going to get? How long will it be that cold? Do I want to scramble around for old bedsheets and then run around in the cold?

Jessica Logan, Horticulture Technician- Chattahoochee Technical College