Temperatures usually don’t get cold enough to really harm my plants until January or February here at the beach in So Cal (and then we’re only talking about the low 40s), but I hear that those of you in the rest of the country start getting pretty cold weather about this time of year. 
Here are some tips to protect your plants and pots from cold snaps.
- Move Plants Indoors: If possible, move your plants into a sunny window inside your home. Obviously you want to make sure they are free of pests before moving them inside. To keep them bushy, pinch them back if they become leggy. If that’s not possible, move your plants to your garage or a shed. Many plants become dormant during the winter and won’t miss the sunlight. To help them get ready for dormancy, slow down their watering schedule for several weeks before moving them. Once they’re in the garage, only give them enough water to keep the soil from completely drying out.
- Make a Tent: If your pots are too big to move indoors, or you don’t have room for them, it’s pretty easy to create a tent to help keep your plants warm. If possible, move them up against a wall or the building. Then stick bamboo stakes (available in your garden center) into your pots so that the top of the stakes are about 6 inches above the plant. You’ll also need a painters’ tarp, you can get disposable ones for pretty cheap, but be sure to get one that is substantial, not too flimsy. Then drape the tarp over the stakes. Weigh down the edges with empty pots or rocks. During the day, be sure to open up one side to let in fresh air and keep things from getting too damp under the plastic.
- Wrap Your Pots in Bubble Wrap: I’ve never done this, as my area doesn’t really get that cold, but the Brooklyn Botanical Garden recommends wrapping the pots of marginally hardy plants in special bubble wrap that you can find at your local nursery. More info about that here: Protecting Your Containers During Cold Weather – Advice From People Who Know About These Things.
What do you do to protect your perennial plants during the winter?
You Might Also Like:
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Good tips here… thanks for sharing! Teresa
I often see fig and other trees in my neighborhood wrapped up with burlap for the winter.
Nothing – frost free location.
Here in Chicago it gets cold enough that they need some really good protection. Moving them into a grouping near a structure and covering them with mulch, straw or grass clippings can help winterize them.
Great tips Fern, but I must as that you should not only watch for pests you bring inside, but pest you cultivate inside, like fungus gnats, they were a major problem in my home last year, now I have no plants inside they are gone.
Good point Prue! I hate gnats!
Thanks, all! Out only high-maintenance container plant is a dwarf Meyer lemon tree (I’m in Boston). It’s a welcome winter guest, because its blooms fill our house with a wonderful fragrance. But it suffers in the dry heat at a sunny window, so last winter we learned to put it on a gravel- and water-filled tray as a humidifier. After that, it perked up and regained its scorched leaves.