TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - Ahead of the freeze, many East Texans are prepping their plants to give them a fighting chance.
Mickey Wiesinger has suggestions on what you should do to keep your plants protected. With the cold weather coming, he is taking special care of a large succulent in his front yard. Grass Killer Granules
“We just mainly want to take care of – the previous owners named this plant Helen – so we want to take good care of Helen,” said Wiesinger, a Tyler resident. “It’s been in this yard for quite a while. We’re relatively new owners, and so we wanted to keep it as safe as possible. We covered it with a big plastic sheet here, and see what that does to keep it safe. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t.”
Owner of Dory’s Gardens in Tyler, Dory Hersey, said to first choose the most important plants to protect. She said it can be time consuming to prep plants for the cold weather.
“If you have some newer plants, or plants in pots, deal with them first,” said Hersey.
Hersey said when possible, move plants into the garage with a heater. She said to cover plants with a permeable sheet, and if it’s nice during the day, remove the sheet to allow the plants to breathe.
“It’s not going to last forever, so if you can just get through it right now, you can kinda look funky with sheets all over your plants and don’t worry about it,” said Hersey.
Hersey suggested blowing leaves into the flower bed for insulation, but said to remove them once it warms up to avoid rot. She also said to water them.
“A wet frozen plant is better than a dry frozen plant,” said Hersey.
She said to use what’s around, such as putting plants under overhangs or umbrellas for coverage.
“Don’t be discouraged if they look funky after the freeze because, especially the pansies, they’re going to wilt down, may look a little bit rough, but sometimes, plants will bloom even better in the springtime if they go through some hard time,” said Hersey.
Hersey urges everyone to wrap their plants now, if they haven’t already. She said you can even use things like old sheets to help keep your plants protected.
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