To Cover or Not to Cover

It’s always a possibility during a Central Texas March — this Friday we’re expecting another freeze! It’s hard work moving plants back and forth between every low temperature swing, so focus your time and energy on those that really need it. Remember to also disconnect hoses and wrap your connections!

Needs protection:

Summer veggies & herbs

Tomatoes, peppers, and basil all need protection from temperatures lower than 50°F. The same applies to cucumbers, eggplant, or squash.

Spring annuals

Most of our vibrant spring color will also need protection! Bring in your Gerber daisies, bougainvillea hanging baskets, dahlias, petunias, and geraniums. Sunday we expect the weather to be nice enough to move them back outside, but we can enjoy their color indoors during our cold spell.

Houseplants & citrus

If you’ve gotten excited and moved your houseplants outside, they will need to come back inside Friday evening. Also protect your citrus trees. Pay special attention to new plants as well as plants with northern exposure. Winds will be strong that night.

Hardy during freezes:

Fruit trees & berry bushes

The fruit trees and berry bushes we carry are hardy in climates much colder than ours, thus need no special treatment.

But, unfortunately if your fruit trees are currently budding, crop failure is likely unavoidable. This is why we recommend planting varieties with different chill hour ranges to maximize success.

Learn more about Chill Hours

Bulbs, bluebonnets, poppies

While the freeze may bite back any early bloomers, these plants will recover without issue. You can cut any current flowers to save in a vase indoors.

Perennial herbs

Even if the foliage is damaged, thyme, oregano, sage, and mint should return reliably from the roots. Recent plantings should always be protected.

Native plants

This freeze is only supposed to be a quick dip. Our native plants are already adapted to these Central Texas swings, but a new transplant should always be given extra protection.

We are reevaluating ways we conduct our free classes in order to better serve our community and we appreciate your feedback. We will be collecting survey results from now until April 30th. Our drawing will take place in May after the survey closes.

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