Covered Tropical Plants with Frost Covers

Tonight is a cold night, and I took steps to cover my orchids and elephant ear tropical plants with frost covers.  The forecast does not call for a freeze and tomorrow it will be warm again but with temperatures dipping into the low 40's I thought it best to cover my tropical plants.

The weather that we are having is not normal for this time of the year.  It is a cold snap with back-to-normal temperatures in a few days.  By Monday the high is 88 degrees Fahrenheit and the forecast shows many days of warm weather.  For this reason, I decided to leave my tropical plants outdoors for now.  The frost cover will protect them and tomorrow I will uncover them and the orchids will look so pretty.

Eventually, I will have to take all tropical plants indoors and get the elephant ears ready for winter storage. At the moment  I am putting that off.  I want to prolong the garden season as long as I can.

Do you have orchids or other tropical plants?  When do you bring them indoors?

Here is a photo of tropical elephant ears in a container.  

Elephant ear container plant

 

Protecting Plants From Late Spring Snow

When I looked out my window this morning I could not believe my eyes, because the snow was falling onto my newly green lawn and my flower gardens.

White powder from the sky is covering the newly opened tulips, lilacs, redbud blooms, irises with buds, and this morning I noticed the hostas had broken the soil surface.  

My entire yard and garden are flourishing because of the warm spring-like weather.  This April Snow will destroy my plants because of the hard frost advisory.

Normally I cover my plants with blanket frost protection and I will use the row covers for my crops in raised vegetable garden; however, I cannot cover the entire yard and all of the gardens.

I am hoping for the best, that the wintry mix moves far enough away from my area to prevent the temperatures from dropping into the low 20s.   

Related Garden Posts by Sgolis

Winter Snow and Ice Damaged Irises

Protect Spring Gardens from Wildlife