Frost Warnings, How to Protect Your Plants

frost warnings

Many locations on the east coast of Canada and the USA have had frost warnings the past few nights with more to come for the next few days. Some annuals tolerate a light frost, others not so much. Of course, the first frost date varies across the globe, sometimes year to year within the same area.

In other words, frost is unpredictable.

You can extend the season on both ends by heeding frost warnings in your weather forecast. In the spring I tend to start my containers early to ensure I get the annuals I want. If a frost warning is issued, I move the containers into my garage, off the (cold) cement floor, for the night in question. The same technique can be used in the fall when a sporadic early frost is in the forecast.

These are ways you can protect your annuals.

Sheets, Towels, Tablecloths, and even Plastic

Beds of annual (those that you have to plant each spring) flowers can be protected with bed sheets, towels, or even tablecloths. I get the cheap tablecloths from a dollar store, the ones with the felt-like backing; they work great. Sticks or stakes can be used to prevent the covering from crushing the plants, and rocks to hold the covering down so they don’t blow in the wind.

Plastic garbage bags work too and often fit right over containers, just ensure they reach right to the ground. And again, use rocks to hold them in place. Or tie something around the base to hold the plastic in place; burlap works well here too. As do large tarps, although they can be heavy but work great on raised beds with tiny seedlings. If plants are taller, simply add stakes around the plants to keep the tarp off them.

Of course, whatever you use will depend on the size of the beds or containers you wish to protect.

Frost Covers

Yes, frost covers are a thing sold in garden centers, nurseries, big stores, and even on Amazon. I’ve never tried any of these options, if you have please let me know how you like them!

A Warmer Spot

If you have annuals in pots or still in their nursery containers waiting to be planted, simply move them to a garage or basement for frost warnings. If in an unheated garage, store them on something so they are not on the cement floor. A shelf or even storage bins work well. Then you can move them in and out depending on the weather.

If you have lots, a wheelbarrow or cart works well to transport them back and forth. You could even leave the tender plants in whatever you use in the garage.

My yet-unplanted annual collection stayed in my garage all day yesterday as the temperature here never reached double digits before another frost warning last night.

frost warnings

Don’t Worry About Perennials in Frost Warnings

While annuals will be affected by frost, most perennials will not. Perennials can be planted as soon as the ground is thawed and will survive the temperature fluctuations in spring and fall.

Perennials can overwinter in containers too if you choose plants two zones hardier than what is normally hardy in your area. Otherwise, you can stick them in the ground to overwinter, to use them again the following spring.

Happy Birthday Dad!

happy birthday Dad

Today, September 19th, would have been my Dad’s 94th birthday.  Although he left us sixteen years ago already, I think of him in some context daily. Happy Birthday Dad!

These pictures were taken on Dad’s surprise (sort of) 75th birthday where he was celebrated by his family and friends.

A Broken Heart Took Him Too Early

After my mom died in 1994 at the age of 65, dad’s love of life and will to live seemed to diminish.  He was only 66 at the time, and the quality of his life deteriorated quickly after her death.  He used his advancing age as an excuse to prevent him from enjoying his golden years, but we all knew it was the void in his heart that was the culprit.

Happy birthday Dad, we are all thinking of you today and hope you are celebrating with Mom and others that left us too soon.

happy birthday Dad
my parents

Memories That Make me Smile

A few years ago I woke up to frost on the rooftops and lawns on this date, an early appearance even here in Ottawa, but somehow appropriate for Dad’s birthday.  As I looked out the window at the whiteness, I could hear his voice saying “HAH, frost in September!”

The really cool thing is that many of his unique expressions and habits live on in my children and grandchildren. His premature white hair lives on in moi. As my three brothers age, I see many of Dad’s personality traits in them too. Here are just a few memories and the things that evoke them:

  • his affectionate phrase “dum dum” when someone did something silly, often used on his children and grandchildren.  I must admit to using it in my own household too, softened with a giggle, just like he used to.
  • his use of the expression “HAH” as used above, meaning “who would have thunk it?” or “I don’t think so” (when he didn’t want to do something) or when he found something funny or ridiculous.
  • his ride-on lawnmower that his six children purchased for him on his 75th birthday.  It currently resides at my cottage where the lawns are big enough to need a ride-on mower.
happy birthday Dad

  • when I am out “puttering” in a garden as he used to love to do.  In his latter days he would have a list of things for me to do in his garden each visit.  As a youngster, I remember my mom picking out the plants, but Dad was always the one planting and looking after them.  I know he would be proud and not the least bit surprised about my new profession, Gardens4U.
  • when one of my sons (or me) yell at the TV during a hockey game.
  • one of his sweaters that I found in his closet when cleaning out his house, barely (if at all) used, that I now use as garden apparel on cool days.
  • his use of an accelerant to start the campfire at the cottage, especially after a week of rain when everything is damp.  My husband calls it “grandpa’s firestarter.”
  • wandering around my gardens in sandals (Dad often wore his slippers to do this, much to my Mom’s dismay)  with a cup of tea in hand, stopping here and there to pull a weed or two, or to “stop and smell the roses.”
  • My youngest grandson was named after you, although he is still too young to realize it. He will though, I will make sure he does.
  • his goofy grin, that fortunately (for me) lives on in my middle son and also my oldest grandson.

The list goes on and on….

Happy Birthday Dad, I miss you! Oh, how I wish you were still here to visit with my sons and my contribution to the great-grandchildren in your family tree.

Mid-September Blooms in Gardens4me

mid-September blooms

Cooler days and nights in mid-September make for much easier gardening while prolonging the beauty of the gardening season. Some of my favourite mid-September blooms this time of year are the cool-season, perennial ornamental grasses. There are so many varieties to choose from these days, but my favourite is still what I call “fireworks,” for obvious reasons. Its real name is Maiden Grass Silberfeder or Miscanthus Sinensis. Whatever you call it, it is gorgeous!

Also included in my mid-September blooms are a repeat of the perennial geranium, the long-lasting roses, and the striking yellow cone flower, pictured below:

This beautiful red hibisus also puts on a show in mid-September….

as does this coleus. I love the way the colours appear to be splattered across the leaves, with no distinct pattern. Like the grasses mentioned above, there are tons of coleus varieties to choose from. I use them frequently in containers, for shady spots. Speaking of containers, all the ones I planted in May are still contributing to my mid-summer blooms in all of my gardens.

 

With frost in the forecast for a few nights this week, who knows what next week will bring. Hopefully, we have not seen the last of these gorgeous mid-September blooms…….stay tuned!