Care for your Tropical Plants during winter months to ensure Beautiful Green Spring.
Baby it's COLD outside...We have a Mid-Century Modern home with lots of Tropical foliage in the backyard and surrounding the pool. It is critical to cover your plants during the winter months to protect them form the freezing elements. The ice and snow will kill a majority of your broad leaf plant/trees if not protected. I use Burlap from Joann Fabric.
On a SCALE of 1-5 I rate this a 2.
Total COST - $100 you can use for years
Total time - 1 and 1/2 hours. 30 minutes to cut fabric and 1 hour to wrap plants.
This first picture is an "after" picture. The pictures below illustrate wrapping plants/trees.I buy Burlap by the bolt. You can get it as low as $1.99 a yard.
Clothes pins, the wooden kind, you can get them at the grocery store. Cut your fabric twice as large as needed to cover the largest portion of the plant. For example the Sago Palms in the grey pots are measured by their leaf span, so I measure from there. I take the corners and clip them together using clothes pins. Use as many as you need to secure the burlap to the plant.
I will use as many as 8 per plant. The Tree up against the fence is a Queens Palm. We sewed together a 20' long piece of burlap and made it like a sock and slipped it on.I will also tack a nail on the fence and make it a tented area if I have low enough plants. Under the tent along the fence I have a lemon tree, gardenia and hibiscus. They make it every year.
When it comes to a Palm tree, I make sure the trunk is wrapped really good then loosely cover the top ensure it is totally covered and secure it with clothes pins.The last thing to do is add 4" of mulch to each plant, at least 12" around. It should look like a mound.
I hope this helps you keep your plants happy and healthy during winter so you can enjoy their beauty come spring.
I would love to hear what is working for you.
Til Later,
YourGayHusband
I'm going to try to plant a little garden this year:) Only a few things that I know we will eat:) Last year I planted two different cherry tomatos and two different kinds of strawberries:) Tomatoes did great, strawberries not so well. We are also going to try and plant pomegranate trees and Japanese maple trees:) I LOVE my plants and just making my backyard cozy and relaxing to hang out in. Wish we were neighbors:) Keep the blogs coming:) Coral reads them everyday too:)
ReplyDeleteI definately recommend putting 4" of mulch on the areas that you want to do you planting. You could even use a bail of Hay and spread it out to 4" depth. I prefer organic mulch. This will give your soil a head start with nutrients. By doing this now, you will be set you up for successful gardening. Let me know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteYGH