JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Residents of Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia are in for several cold starts this week, which is why plant experts say it’s important to protect plants before the cold arrives.
RELATED | Cold snap incoming: Dramatic temperature drop after early Monday rain moves out
News4JAX spent the weekend talking to plant experts. We first stopped by Philips Garden Store on Herchel Street.
Employees said they’re moving everything they can into the greenhouse, and whatever is left, they plan to cover it with a frost cloth.
Since it is going to get into freezing temperatures, they recommend taking plants inside a greenhouse, house, or some kind of building where it’s warmer.
If you need to cover them, a frost cloth is useful because the material is breathable, yet effective, and doesn’t crush the plants.
But Matt Morgan said it’s important to know your plants.
“A lot of plants are different at different levels. Some are sensitive to 32, some are sensitive to 28. Technically, or mostly citrus can stand to 28, whereas other flowers like impatiens, they don’t like it at 33. So it varies, depends on what you have,” Matt Morgan, who works at Philips Garden Store, said.
Since it is going to be in the 20s, they say it’s probably best to take care of all your plants.
The Garden at the Cummer Museum was also preparing this weekend for the cold snap.
MORE | City of Jacksonville activates warming center plan from Monday night to Friday morning
Wade Richards told News4JAX the potted plants definitely need to go indoors. But he also said there may be other plants that need to be covered.
He said thick blankets are not recommended, so a frost cloth is a much better material because it allows air to circulate, but it also traps some warm air to help the plants out. He called it a labor of love. He said you need to put on the cloth when it gets cold, but you also need to take it off when it gets over 50 degrees because the sun can cook the plants during the day.
“It’s really important to leave that there on the plant because it’s going to protect it from the next time that it frosts. So if you just keep cutting that off, it’s going to try and use the energy to keep safe, and it really needs the energy to allow itself to be alive through the frost,” Richards said.
You can use either stakes or bamboo sticks to do that.
But he also said if you see frost damage on your plant, don’t cut it off — leave it there. It may look brown and ugly, but it will actually protect the plant for the next frost.