I don't think you need to go crazy covering things, The ground is still warm.

We are under a freeze warning here and I don't want to lose buds.

I think things are budding much earlier than normal this year. They are in my yard anyway...I was thinking of covering some things with sheets. I've never done this before. Have never had to and everthing has always been fine, but I'm afraid if I don't do something this year I'll be losing lots of buds. Bumblebeez, I'd guess that uncovering mid-morning and then covering back up at night would be the best way to go...And you're right, it's a big hassle. My problem is deciding what's going to get covered and what isn't...

This year I am buying as many old sheets at Goodwill as I can find.
I have covered:
Indian Hawthornes- I know these buds will go
Salvias that are blooming
All dianthus g. in bloom
Baptista- ready to bloom
Honeysuckle- covered with buds, some popping out
Clematis
Rhodendron
As many roses as I could. I have a long hedge of Knockouts and they are covered in buds
Mock Orange
Weigla
Certain Azaleas
Woodland Phlox
Verbena
Sweet Woodruff
Oriental Lilies about to bloom

I did not cover several gorgeous scotch brooms:(
and I've only got about half of my roses and I did no hydrangeas.
Several viburnums are in full bloom too but they are too big and I am out of sheets, tarps, old towels and patience.

I do not think a basic frost will hurt most of the buds, but I may be wrong. I think it needs to be a true freeze to kill most of the buds. I didn't cover anything, hope I am not going to be bummed in the morning.

I planted several large pots with potato vine, geraniums, gerber daisies, coleus, dusty miller, salvia, and a few other annuals. The pots sit on my wrap-around porch. Do I need to do anything to protect them from forecasted possible 32 degrees nights coming this weekend? Will they be okay under my porch cover? :(

I just put pine straw around some new clematis with tender growth, some new bare root roses and some salvia already flowering.

I have lots of roses with buds, but I'm hoping they will be OK for the most part.

I'd bring anything in a pot in the house or garage.

I just leave things covered. I have hardy seedlings and recent transplants covered, I covered the cold frame which has 2 leaf impatiens seedlings in it, brought an entire room full of seedling trays and rooting plants inside (turned off the heat), and mummified the amaryllis which are ready to open with record amounts of blooms. Roses are all way too big for me to cover, they are on their own. However, since they are budded and blooming so early, I figure that they will just go ahead and bloom again. The iris are also on their own, however earlier frost and blooms just made them bloom even MORE so we'll see what happens. Dianthus and others are on their own. I'll cover my little vegetables Friday/Sat and Sunday AM.

GGG

Bamateacha, I would bring them inside or cover them. I brought everything in a pot inside or to the garage.

I think I'm going to leave the sheets on. I don't have time to oncover and recover everything.

The only good thing is that hopefully all the box stores will have some good markdowns. Last year I got big mandevillas that were slightly crispy but otherwise great. Fifteen dollars marked down to two! I noticed WalMart had a lot this year....

I am covering tender new Clematis vines, new shoots yet unfurled of Hostas, Hydrangeas and Chinese Yellow Banana which has just begun to send up new growth and my Jap Maple.
I don't care if the temps don't get low enough to freeze anything, I am not losing the buds or leaves on any of these plants again this year. Most everything else that is coming up is on it's own.

In answer to your question though, covering should be removed when the sun comes up as it will super heat tight knit or plastic coverings and burn the plants more than the cold would have.

I can't believe it is going to get SO cold! I have sheets on plants, but I don't think it is going to do any good with expected lows of 25!:( All of my clematis--AHHRGH

I picked up plastic sheeting (painter's tarps) that are 9x12. These are big enough to cover large groups of hostas, an entire flower bed, or a large shrub. I'm using giant trash bags to cover big pots on the porch, and bringing in anything that I haven't planted yet. It's supposed to get down to 26 degrees this weekend!

I am most concerned about losing blossoms on the plants that are in bloom now. The article in the paper said pretty much just kiss them goodbye!

I think most of the ones still in bud (lots of viburnums here) are safe. But they did say to cover roses and hydrangeas with buds.

As for my potted things ... the car will NOT be the garage tonight.

My husband just told me he heard Walter Reeves on the radio. He said to cover the plants with black plastic (bags or sheets). The ground is warm and what will happen when the air temp drops is that the heat will radiate from the ground. The plastic will keep the heat around the plant.

Two things, it is also going to be windy, so the plastic tarp or bag must be secured so cold air does not get in or the bag does not blow off.

Also, the plastic MUST be removed when the sun comes up tomorrow AM or the plants will be fried. Then put them back on when the sun goes down.

I put sheets on plants first, then the plastic. I use a wrap of plastic, and not bags - as these vent and I can leave them on. I also like to use tree pots. I just hold them down with a stone, this allows for some ventilation but it keeps moist frost off the leaves. I have left my pots and wraps on for several days this way. But the ventilation on these is a must!

GGG

Here's the Cold Weather Advisory e-mail from Walter Reeves:

Special Edition - Protecting Plants in Cold Weather
Georgia is famous for spells of warm weather in early spring that are followed by a couple of days below freezing.

The average last freeze is March 27 but a frost can occur as late as April 23. (Brrrr!!)

This weekend, cold temperatures are expected but below freezing air temperatures are forecast for only a few hours Friday night and more on Saturday night.

If you are concerned, simply cover tender plants (tomato, impatiens, basil, etc) with light cotton sheets or with cardboard boxes. Weight them down with rocks or limbs. Remove them the next day when temperatures rise.

Be extremely careful covering plants with clear plastic. On a sunny day, even when it's below freezing, the air under clear plastic can get so hot your plants will cook. I prefer black plastic for a daytime covering because the shiny black reflects most light rather than absorbing it.

You can "tent" tender shrubs by driving a stake in the ground so the top is slightly higher than the top of the shrub. Cover the entire shrub with black plastic down to the ground and anchor the edges with logs or stones.

The bottom line is that damage done to your plants depends on how low it gets and how long the freezing temperatures last. Our soil temperatures are in the 60's - so there is a lot of heat close to the ground. If the cold in your area only lasts an hour or so and if plants are protected from the wind by a wall or a line of shrubbery, they will probably survive just fine.

All this wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the wind. I'm using clothes pins to wrap sheets around clematis and honeysuckle. Wait, what am I saying? This is wretched.

That darn po-anna is coming in handy. I'm pulling out huge clumps of it to weigh down the bags and stuff around the smaller plants.

Oh my gosh. I just checked the weather for my zip which is just across the GA/AL border down I-20 and they're saying Sun morning by 6 a.m. actual temp low of 16 degrees!!! Not to mention the wind chill. I don't think it's gotten that low here all winter. And it's supposed to stay sub-freezing for almost 12 hours straight Saturday Night/Sunday morning. Sounds like my efforts to protect my plants will be in vain. =(

Squirrellypete

I'm still hearing mid-20s for tomorrow night. It's still 45 here now.

Squirley, plants don't feel wind chill.

GGG, I only mentioned the windchill part with regards to us humans lol (and four-legged friends). I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around walking out Sunday morning 8 days into April to work in the yard and it's gonna' feel like 11 degrees! I know it's not uncommon to get sub-freezing temps at night on into the month of April but this low seems insane, even for blackberry winter.

Squirrellypete

Well here it ONLY got down to 29, and everything looks OK. I had a devil of a time keeping the bags on my hydrangeas with the wind. The two roses I covered did a better job (thorns!).

But tonight is the key. I'm going to get some stakes at HD today and really pin those suckers down.

I didn't have time to cover my hosta (or anything else) last night. Should I even bother to do it tonight? :(

tonight is supposed to be worse. First off, it's colder today than it was yesterday, so there is less ground warmth. It went below freezing at 4:46 am, so we've already had 6 hours of below freezing. The sun is out now, and will warm things up a bit, but as soon as it goes down, it's going to get colder tonight.

I didn't bother covering my hostas last night, they are barely coming up. I may try tonight.

I'm more worried about my two small Japanese Maples which are already leafed out. They look a bit shocked. I'll see if they recover, in not, I will try to cover them tonight.

I have two Jap maples I wasn't sure if I should protect but did anyway. One is under 5 feet which I wrapped with a blanket. The other was "shotgun pruned" last year when my fiance was aiming for the head of a rattler that surprised me on our front porch. Good news was he killed the rattler, bad news was he cut the 4ft Viridis maple behind it in half with the blast. On the bright side it's compact enough now to fit just perfectly under one of those tall Rubbermaid trash cans to help protect it from the freeze lol.

Squirrellypete

Okay I covered some endless Summer Hydrangeas that are planted on a slope, I used sheets, but the tips still looked bad this morning. Will Black Plastic protect them better, should I use both? plastic over the sheets? Or maybe heavier blankets under the plastic? I know they will bloom since they bloom on new wood as well as old, but I hate to loose all the leaves since they were looking so nice. I have some hostas that are almost completely opened and of course too big to get a pot over, I covered them with sheets last night, but I dont think that is going to hold in enough warmth. I have a bunch of burlap, up north we used to protect our roses in the winter by wrapping them in burlap (supported by stakes, and then filling them with shredded leaves, mulch or even topsoil. But that was to protect the roots and the canes, could I wrap plants with burlap and then cover with pinestraw? Or will that smother the leaves?

The black plastic is ok, but I have some damage on my hydrangeas.

But not as bad as the new leaves on my crepe myrtles look. UGH.

I didn't cover my shade beds at all last night and everything looks fine. I have all sorts of shade plants there...hydrangeas, hostas, Japanese maples, azaleas, wiegelas, and the list goes on and on. The hardy geraniums and virginia bluebells are even still blooming away like nothing happened. I guess this is because of the tree cover.

Did cover some of the roses along with some other sun plants with sheets and I think they look worse than the roses I didn't cover. The weight of the sheets (and with the wind I'm sure) broke some of the buds off and the leaves look really zapped. I guess I'll try and "tent" over those tonight instead of just laying the sheets over.

Here is a link that might be useful:

My Fatsia took quite a hit last night. All the new growth is dead and turning black. Knew I should have covered that one but, oh well... Hydrangeas took some burn on the tips even under cover and Clematis that were covered look a bit wilted this afternoon. I knew this warm weather was gonna cause problems if a cold front moved in like it seems to do every April. Cest la Vie.

All my crape myrtles, most of the growth on my butterfly bushes and a bunch of encore azaleas I couldn't cover got zapped over night but the crapes definitely look the worse. I have a row of peegee hydrangeas and weigelias that I think got some protection from a building so only the highest tips look wilted. A few of the things in the nursery bed got zapped (mostly little BB bushes) because the wind blew a portion of one tarp back (gotta get out there and fix that before nightfall).

I tented the unrooted cuttings bed with tarps and blankets and ran 3 desk lamps with 100 watt bulbs and a heating pad out there and propped them up so the bulbs and pad rested above the tops of the cuttings. I checked it at 3 a.m. this morning and it was nice and toasty in there so I'm hoping that will be good tonight as well. Just hope I don't find some critter in there in the morning enjoying the heat.

Squirrellypete

My clematis did ok, because they are small and I covered them with pine straw. The largest one is up against the house in a protected spot and is also doing ok, and the buds are still there (yeah).

The hydrangeas are a different story.....

I had a hosta that was fully open and looking gorgeous so I decided to mound some pine straw over the top of it. I no sooner walked away when my very large dog decided the pine straw looked comfy and decided to turn a few circles and lay down, hence damaging the hosta more that the frost probably would have. Damned if you do damned if you don't.

Kathy, I'm sorry about your dog's taste in bedding. Earlier today I let my cat out and she decided the propagation bed tent with the heat lamps looked like fun to play in so she darted in there before I could grab her. She's such a butterball she flattened some of my mum & BB cuttings =(

Squirrellypete

My dog did the exact same thing. Flattened out some dianthus. At least it wasn't the hosta! He sure seemed comfy...like I had provided bedding out in the sun for him!

For some reason, my hostas look ok, maybe because they hadn't uncurled yet. I'm sure my two hydrangeas are done, but the other two on the east side of the house maybe ok, I haven't take the bags off yet.

Many roses have frozen nodding buds, not good. That will set back the spring flush a few weeks, if not longer. Luckily my two climbers look ok, t hey are against the house so must have stayed warmer.

I have a few japanese iris that were bloomed and at first the flowers looked ok. Then I realized they were frozen solid! LOL! But they look good for now!

I hope it's over and it never happens again!

Looked out the window this morning and discovered all the blooms on all the azaleas are dead. I haven't seen azaleas looking this bad since it snowed one time in April.
Not just the buds, but the leaves on my hydrangeas are dead. All but two hostas look ok so far. All the ferns took a hit.The astilbes are suffering. It looks bad out there this morning.

Yep, my azaleas that were in full bloom look like mush now. I didn't think last night was colder (it was 29 when I woke up at 7 am), but I think it was after all.

This azalea was just gorgeous on Friday:

{{gwi:386801}}

esh, I was up at 3 am (I have an insane cat) and I went out to look at the thermometer and it was at 26.

My azalea blooms are completely wiped. The blooms on my Snowball bush viburnum that looked gorgeous & survived the first night is completely brown as well as all of the Spireas. The Butterfly Bushes and Crape Myrtles look even crappier than before and I didn't think that was possible lol. I spread 5 comforters and a tarp over the nursery bed to try to cover the whole thing. The tarp wasn't protective enough and everything under there took a hit but the plants under the comforters I think are ok. One more night of sub freezing and maybe we'll be in the clear.

I hate blackberry winter =/

Squirrellypete