I'm getting a lot of questions, mostly via email, about getting ready to protect plants for the coming winter. Most of the questions have been coming from people who are "recent transplants". In other words, they have moved to Texas from other states, especially much further north. Oddly enough, you can tell when a "yankee" moves down here, because they ask about when to cover Red Tips and other evergreen plants.

First, keep in mind that many of the evergreen shrubs are designed to take the kind of weather that will be chilling the air… plants like Azaleas, Red Tips, Roses, Hollies etc., should be just fine even when temperatures are touching into the "freezing" range. I remember two years ago, one of the local television reporters told everyone to cover their azaleas on a night that was no lower than 28 degrees. YIKES! All I could do was cringe. There was no horticultural/plant expert on to back up what he was saying. I could just imagine all these people wasting their time covering their azaleas that night because of incompetent reporting.

The only time you might even think about covering azaleas (much less, evergreens), would be on freezing nights right before the blooms are about to pop. That normally takes place in late February to early March. Also for azaleas, if it sleets you might consider covering them to protect the blooms. In fact, cool weather benefits the bloom of the azaleas. Try to use 25 degrees and below - for several hours - as a magic number when it comes to protection.

For me, and horticulturally-speaking, I get busy covering several plants when temperatures are below that magic number of 25 degrees. If it's 29 or 28 for an hour, I leave almost everything but tropicals alone. Palm trees such as the Queen Palms and newly planted Sago Palms are good examples of those that need protection below 25 degrees. Mother Nature would have to be in the teens to single digits for many hours to scare me enough to cover the vast majority of our landscape plants. And frankly, if that is happening in Houston, we've got much bigger problems to deal with other than what plants to cover.

Here are some general rules for checking such freeze damage on Tropicals and otherwise.

The leaves/fronds on almost all tropical plants are expendable. Don't panic, if you see brown leaves. Just remove them.

Look at the limbs for actual damage (Hibiscus & Bougainvillea are great examples) you'll be looking for gray, dark, nappy wood.

Then just trim past the damaged parts until you see green wood.

Trim such plants to a manageable level before the freeze, to make it easier to cover the plants before the actual freeze.

Soft tropicals like Ginger and Banana, cut back the mushy, brown areas to get back to live layers.

Heavily mulch the base of all plants including beds and containers; this provides a great insulation for the roots

Give all plants a good watering, keeping moisture and inevitably warmer temps near the roots.

Cover with sheets, blankets and frost covers (row covers).

Don't cover with just plastic or plastic tarps. You can use such plastic on top of the aforementioned sheets, blankets frost covers etc.

If you cover any plant on freezing nights, remember to on cover them if the temps are back above freezing during the day. They still need air and light.

If you have any other questions about what to cover and protect on freezing nights, don't hesitate to call me on the GardenLine weekends from 8 to noon, exclusively on Talkradio 950 KPRC.

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