Crocuses are some of the most beautiful of small, spring flowering bulbs. The flowers are some of the first of spring. They will bring colorful flowers long before the perennials and annuals in your garden. Crocuses grow from small, flat corms. Flowers will have six petals and be three to 5 inches in height. In the sunlight, the petals will open out flat with orange anthers and close at night.

Choosing a Bloom Season

Planting crocus bulbs

There are spring, fall and winter flowering crocuses. Spring flowers will be in varieties of bicolor, purple, blue, yellow and white opening before daffodils. The fall varieties will appear from early to late fall. The flowers are four-five tall in colors of pure white, violet-blue or lavender. Depending on the climate, the winter crocuses will be in bloom thru midwinter. These flowers will have markings at the base of the petals with contrasting stripes. The inner color will vary from the outer one. Dutch hybrids are the most widely grown. The flowers will only open in sunlight. There are several beautiful, smaller and delicate species of Crocuses.

Choosing a Location

Bulbs can be planted in various locations. A formal display can be made by grouping one color of bulbs in areas. Bulbs can be planted in rock gardens, between paved areas, along banks or in flowerbeds. Crocuses need to have protection from strong wind. They can grow in any garden soil that is well drained. The bulbs much prefer sand and humus in the soil. Crocuses will thrive in a moderately fertile soil with full sun exposure or even partial shade.

Soil

A poor soil can be improved by mixing peat moss or well-rotted compost and adding some bone meal and mixing thoroughly. This mixture needs to sit for a few days before planting. A good mixture would be for one two-gallon bucket of peat moss or compost added to each square yard of soil. The bone meal could be added at a rate of five pounds per 100 square feet. A planting tool that is narrow and no more than four inches wide is best for digging a deep hole for the bulb. Humus needs to be placed in the bottom of each hole then the bulb planted. For Dutch crocuses, the depth needs to be four inches, for other species three inches is required. Place the bulb in the hole with the pointed side upward, and then cover with the fertile soil mixture. You might want to put this soil in a container and then add to each hole as you plant and above the planting. If bulbs are planted closely to the surface of the ground, they will be more prone to damage from alternate freezing or thawing. Bulbs can be adversely affected by heat in the summer when planted close to the surface. The bulbs like a cool soil during the dormant period. You might want to place some stakes by each grouping of bulbs to mark the edges so avoid damage from putting in other plants later in the area.

Weed Control

Bulbs will need very little attention during the season of growing. When weeds form, they can be removed by a gardening tool such as a hoe or by hand. Careful attention needs to be paid when not weeding by hand to avoid damage to the plant. Watering will be needed if the area is very dry to promote growth and perhaps mild fertilization. The growing cycle is complete only when leaves turn yellow and flowers fade. The foliage needs to be allowed to open before removing the bulb from the ground or by cutting for flower arrangements as the plant needs nutrients for future growth. Mice, squirrels and other small rodents may bother your bulbs. Pests can be deterred by placing wire over the bulbs as they come out in the spring.

Storing Bulbs out of Season

You may choose to leave the bulbs in the ground for several years or to lift them. One reason for lifting is to allow room for other plants to grow. To lift the bulb, insert a fork tool into the ground below the bulb, carefully lifting without damaging. When the bulb is lifted, discard the rotted or pulpy bulbs. You may store the bulbs in a trenched area of about 12 feet wide and five to 6 inches deep. Lay a wire or netting over these bulbs after placing them in the ground at a slight angle. This wire or netting will allow you to know exactly where the bulbs are resting. If you choose to bring the bulbs inside, place them in some peat moss and leave the trays in a cool place. Before storing, remove dead leaves, skins, and roots from each of the bulbs. Bulbs can be separated from the parent plant to allow for propagation. The bulblets attached to the parent need to broken off and then stored in flats. The bulbs must have air circulation to prevent them from molding.

Crocuses provide so much beauty to your home garden with just a little care and attention. Years of enjoyment can be derived from the proper care of the bulbs and plants.

Crocuses are some of the most beautiful of small, spring flowering bulbs. The flowers are some of the first of spring. They will bring colorful flowers long before the perennials and annuals in your garden. Crocuses grow from small, flat corms. Flowers will have six petals and be three to 5 inches in height. In the sunlight, the petals will open out flat with orange anthers and close at night.

Choosing a Bloom Season

Planting crocus bulbs

There are spring, fall and winter flowering crocuses. Spring flowers will be in varieties of bicolor, purple, blue, yellow and white opening before daffodils. The fall varieties will appear from early to late fall. The flowers are four-five tall in colors of pure white, violet-blue or lavender. Depending on the climate, the winter crocuses will be in bloom thru midwinter. These flowers will have markings at the base of the petals with contrasting stripes. The inner color will vary from the outer one. Dutch hybrids are the most widely grown. The flowers will only open in sunlight. There are several beautiful, smaller and delicate species of Crocuses.

Choosing a Location

Bulbs can be planted in various locations. A formal display can be made by grouping one color of bulbs in areas. Bulbs can be planted in rock gardens, between paved areas, along banks or in flowerbeds. Crocuses need to have protection from strong wind. They can grow in any garden soil that is well drained. The bulbs much prefer sand and humus in the soil. Crocuses will thrive in a moderately fertile soil with full sun exposure or even partial shade.

Soil

A poor soil can be improved by mixing peat moss or well-rotted compost and adding some bone meal and mixing thoroughly. This mixture needs to sit for a few days before planting. A good mixture would be for one two-gallon bucket of peat moss or compost added to each square yard of soil. The bone meal could be added at a rate of five pounds per 100 square feet. A planting tool that is narrow and no more than four inches wide is best for digging a deep hole for the bulb. Humus needs to be placed in the bottom of each hole then the bulb planted. For Dutch crocuses, the depth needs to be four inches, for other species three inches is required. Place the bulb in the hole with the pointed side upward, and then cover with the fertile soil mixture. You might want to put this soil in a container and then add to each hole as you plant and above the planting. If bulbs are planted closely to the surface of the ground, they will be more prone to damage from alternate freezing or thawing. Bulbs can be adversely affected by heat in the summer when planted close to the surface. The bulbs like a cool soil during the dormant period. You might want to place some stakes by each grouping of bulbs to mark the edges so avoid damage from putting in other plants later in the area.

Weed Control

Bulbs will need very little attention during the season of growing. When weeds form, they can be removed by a gardening tool such as a hoe or by hand. Careful attention needs to be paid when not weeding by hand to avoid damage to the plant. Watering will be needed if the area is very dry to promote growth and perhaps mild fertilization. The growing cycle is complete only when leaves turn yellow and flowers fade. The foliage needs to be allowed to open before removing the bulb from the ground or by cutting for flower arrangements as the plant needs nutrients for future growth. Mice, squirrels and other small rodents may bother your bulbs. Pests can be deterred by placing wire over the bulbs as they come out in the spring.

Storing Bulbs out of Season

You may choose to leave the bulbs in the ground for several years or to lift them. One reason for lifting is to allow room for other plants to grow. To lift the bulb, insert a fork tool into the ground below the bulb, carefully lifting without damaging. When the bulb is lifted, discard the rotted or pulpy bulbs. You may store the bulbs in a trenched area of about 12 feet wide and five to 6 inches deep. Lay a wire or netting over these bulbs after placing them in the ground at a slight angle. This wire or netting will allow you to know exactly where the bulbs are resting. If you choose to bring the bulbs inside, place them in some peat moss and leave the trays in a cool place. Before storing, remove dead leaves, skins, and roots from each of the bulbs. Bulbs can be separated from the parent plant to allow for propagation. The bulblets attached to the parent need to broken off and then stored in flats. The bulbs must have air circulation to prevent them from molding.

Crocuses provide so much beauty to your home garden with just a little care and attention. Years of enjoyment can be derived from the proper care of the bulbs and plants.

Crocuses are some of the most beautiful of small, spring flowering bulbs. The flowers are some of the first of spring. They will bring colorful flowers long before the perennials and annuals in your garden. Crocuses grow from small, flat corms. Flowers will have six petals and be three to 5 inches in height. In the sunlight, the petals will open out flat with orange anthers and close at night.

Choosing a Bloom Season

Planting crocus bulbs

There are spring, fall and winter flowering crocuses. Spring flowers will be in varieties of bicolor, purple, blue, yellow and white opening before daffodils. The fall varieties will appear from early to late fall. The flowers are four-five tall in colors of pure white, violet-blue or lavender. Depending on the climate, the winter crocuses will be in bloom thru midwinter. These flowers will have markings at the base of the petals with contrasting stripes. The inner color will vary from the outer one. Dutch hybrids are the most widely grown. The flowers will only open in sunlight. There are several beautiful, smaller and delicate species of Crocuses.

Choosing a Location

Bulbs can be planted in various locations. A formal display can be made by grouping one color of bulbs in areas. Bulbs can be planted in rock gardens, between paved areas, along banks or in flowerbeds. Crocuses need to have protection from strong wind. They can grow in any garden soil that is well drained. The bulbs much prefer sand and humus in the soil. Crocuses will thrive in a moderately fertile soil with full sun exposure or even partial shade.

Soil

A poor soil can be improved by mixing peat moss or well-rotted compost and adding some bone meal and mixing thoroughly. This mixture needs to sit for a few days before planting. A good mixture would be for one two-gallon bucket of peat moss or compost added to each square yard of soil. The bone meal could be added at a rate of five pounds per 100 square feet. A planting tool that is narrow and no more than four inches wide is best for digging a deep hole for the bulb. Humus needs to be placed in the bottom of each hole then the bulb planted. For Dutch crocuses, the depth needs to be four inches, for other species three inches is required. Place the bulb in the hole with the pointed side upward, and then cover with the fertile soil mixture. You might want to put this soil in a container and then add to each hole as you plant and above the planting. If bulbs are planted closely to the surface of the ground, they will be more prone to damage from alternate freezing or thawing. Bulbs can be adversely affected by heat in the summer when planted close to the surface. The bulbs like a cool soil during the dormant period. You might want to place some stakes by each grouping of bulbs to mark the edges so avoid damage from putting in other plants later in the area.

Weed Control

Bulbs will need very little attention during the season of growing. When weeds form, they can be removed by a gardening tool such as a hoe or by hand. Careful attention needs to be paid when not weeding by hand to avoid damage to the plant. Watering will be needed if the area is very dry to promote growth and perhaps mild fertilization. The growing cycle is complete only when leaves turn yellow and flowers fade. The foliage needs to be allowed to open before removing the bulb from the ground or by cutting for flower arrangements as the plant needs nutrients for future growth. Mice, squirrels and other small rodents may bother your bulbs. Pests can be deterred by placing wire over the bulbs as they come out in the spring.

Storing Bulbs out of Season

You may choose to leave the bulbs in the ground for several years or to lift them. One reason for lifting is to allow room for other plants to grow. To lift the bulb, insert a fork tool into the ground below the bulb, carefully lifting without damaging. When the bulb is lifted, discard the rotted or pulpy bulbs. You may store the bulbs in a trenched area of about 12 feet wide and five to 6 inches deep. Lay a wire or netting over these bulbs after placing them in the ground at a slight angle. This wire or netting will allow you to know exactly where the bulbs are resting. If you choose to bring the bulbs inside, place them in some peat moss and leave the trays in a cool place. Before storing, remove dead leaves, skins, and roots from each of the bulbs. Bulbs can be separated from the parent plant to allow for propagation. The bulblets attached to the parent need to broken off and then stored in flats. The bulbs must have air circulation to prevent them from molding.

Crocuses provide so much beauty to your home garden with just a little care and attention. Years of enjoyment can be derived from the proper care of the bulbs and plants.

Crocuses are some of the most beautiful of small, spring flowering bulbs. The flowers are some of the first of spring. They will bring colorful flowers long before the perennials and annuals in your garden. Crocuses grow from small, flat corms. Flowers will have six petals and be three to 5 inches in height. In the sunlight, the petals will open out flat with orange anthers and close at night.

Choosing a Bloom Season

Planting crocus bulbs

There are spring, fall and winter flowering crocuses. Spring flowers will be in varieties of bicolor, purple, blue, yellow and white opening before daffodils. The fall varieties will appear from early to late fall. The flowers are four-five tall in colors of pure white, violet-blue or lavender. Depending on the climate, the winter crocuses will be in bloom thru midwinter. These flowers will have markings at the base of the petals with contrasting stripes. The inner color will vary from the outer one. Dutch hybrids are the most widely grown. The flowers will only open in sunlight. There are several beautiful, smaller and delicate species of Crocuses.

Choosing a Location

Bulbs can be planted in various locations. A formal display can be made by grouping one color of bulbs in areas. Bulbs can be planted in rock gardens, between paved areas, along banks or in flowerbeds. Crocuses need to have protection from strong wind. They can grow in any garden soil that is well drained. The bulbs much prefer sand and humus in the soil. Crocuses will thrive in a moderately fertile soil with full sun exposure or even partial shade.

Soil

A poor soil can be improved by mixing peat moss or well-rotted compost and adding some bone meal and mixing thoroughly. This mixture needs to sit for a few days before planting. A good mixture would be for one two-gallon bucket of peat moss or compost added to each square yard of soil. The bone meal could be added at a rate of five pounds per 100 square feet. A planting tool that is narrow and no more than four inches wide is best for digging a deep hole for the bulb. Humus needs to be placed in the bottom of each hole then the bulb planted. For Dutch crocuses, the depth needs to be four inches, for other species three inches is required. Place the bulb in the hole with the pointed side upward, and then cover with the fertile soil mixture. You might want to put this soil in a container and then add to each hole as you plant and above the planting. If bulbs are planted closely to the surface of the ground, they will be more prone to damage from alternate freezing or thawing. Bulbs can be adversely affected by heat in the summer when planted close to the surface. The bulbs like a cool soil during the dormant period. You might want to place some stakes by each grouping of bulbs to mark the edges so avoid damage from putting in other plants later in the area.

Weed Control

Bulbs will need very little attention during the season of growing. When weeds form, they can be removed by a gardening tool such as a hoe or by hand. Careful attention needs to be paid when not weeding by hand to avoid damage to the plant. Watering will be needed if the area is very dry to promote growth and perhaps mild fertilization. The growing cycle is complete only when leaves turn yellow and flowers fade. The foliage needs to be allowed to open before removing the bulb from the ground or by cutting for flower arrangements as the plant needs nutrients for future growth. Mice, squirrels and other small rodents may bother your bulbs. Pests can be deterred by placing wire over the bulbs as they come out in the spring.

Storing Bulbs out of Season

You may choose to leave the bulbs in the ground for several years or to lift them. One reason for lifting is to allow room for other plants to grow. To lift the bulb, insert a fork tool into the ground below the bulb, carefully lifting without damaging. When the bulb is lifted, discard the rotted or pulpy bulbs. You may store the bulbs in a trenched area of about 12 feet wide and five to 6 inches deep. Lay a wire or netting over these bulbs after placing them in the ground at a slight angle. This wire or netting will allow you to know exactly where the bulbs are resting. If you choose to bring the bulbs inside, place them in some peat moss and leave the trays in a cool place. Before storing, remove dead leaves, skins, and roots from each of the bulbs. Bulbs can be separated from the parent plant to allow for propagation. The bulblets attached to the parent need to broken off and then stored in flats. The bulbs must have air circulation to prevent them from molding.

Crocuses provide so much beauty to your home garden with just a little care and attention. Years of enjoyment can be derived from the proper care of the bulbs and plants.

One of the best organic methods of pest control is to encourage beneficial bugs in your garden. Lady beetles, Tachinid flies, lacewings, soldier bugs and other beneficial insects will help keep bad bugs like aphids, slugs and armyworms under control. You may not see your obliging friends unless you spend some time gazing into the flowers or digging in the dirt.

Lady beetles and their larvae feast on aphids, mealy bugs, soft scales and spider mites. The larvae of lady beetles are very distinct spiny creatures.
Tachinid flies or hover flies look like tiny bees or wasps. Although the adult is not predatory, feeding on pollen and nectar from flowers, its larvae are parasites to plant-chewing caterpillars.

Gardening Tips: Beneficial bugs in an organic garden

Although many children will scream and run from ground beetles, these allies that live under mulches and plantings are voracious villains for slugs, cutworms and other soft-bodied pests.

Spined soldier beetles are another predator of soft-bodied caterpillars and grubs. And lacewing larvae have an insatiable appetite for aphids, leafhopper eggs, thrips and more.

How do we encourage the good bugs to spend time in our gardens? With an easy and lovely addition: throw in some flowers among your vegetable plants.

Let me give you a little history about our farm. When we started our CSA business, I had dreams of adding flower subscriptions, along with the vegetable subscriptions. To easily harvest weekly bouquets of flowers, I planted most of the annual flowers in front of our pole shed, away from the main vegetable garden. I had visions of annual and perennial flowers flowing down the hill.

As we improved our vegetable production, I had less time to cut flowers even though I still planted dozens of zinnias, asters and celosias. Then came the year that we ran out of space in the main garden.

There was a little room on the flower hill so the beans moved in front of the pole shed. As we were planting, we noticed that this was the richest, crumbliest soil that we had. What a nice spot for carrots.

Needless to say, my vision of a hill of flowers has changed. Now we put them in among the vegetable gardens. A row is saved here and there, some for perennials and some for annuals. That way while working in the garden, we enjoy the beauty of the flowers and the vegetables enjoy the benefit of the bugs. The business world would call this a “win-win” situation. Once again, nature is way ahead of us.

Some good plant food sources for your allies are daisies, sunflowers, marigolds and yarrow. Be sure to let some of your herbs flower. Sage, thyme, lavender, fennel, mint, and dill not only treat your good bugs they also look nice in the garden or in a bouquet. Even better than that, most herb flowers are edible so you can create a masterpiece salad from your herbs.

Go ahead; bring on the beauty and the bugs by mixing up the flowers and the vegetables.

How to design your cutting garden

If you love having bouquets of fresh flowers in your home, office or to give to friends and family, a cutting garden is for you. Everything a bouquet lover needs for year-round arrangements can be grown in your own cutting garden. Cutting gardens are a great way to enjoy your flowers in the home as well as outdoors – you can have your flowers and pick them, too!

Gardening trends: Advice and tips on designing a cutting garden

Since your cutting garden is basically a production garden and isn’t really intended for display, you can design it to be any size and shape you want. You can fill this area with flowers and foliage that you like and not worry about if the plants or the colors look good together. Your cutting garden is a great place to experiment with new plants and colors that you’ve been meaning to try. When choosing a location remember that most cutting garden plants will prefer full sun. You will also need plenty of room to move around among the plants in order to plant, fertilize, harvest, water and deadhead spent blooms.

Start your cutting garden just like you would any other garden. Pick a sunny, well-drained site and improve the soil with plenty of compost, peat moss, or chopped leaves before you plant anything.

Think about the basic plants you want to have and how you’ll use them in arrangements. Trees or shrubs yield great material for bouquets. Trees with good fall color, shrubs with berries and evergreen plants that supply fragrant boughs work well for fall and winter arrangements. Flowering shrubs are mainstays for the spring cutting garden.

Now that you have the backbones of your garden, fill in with flowers, grasses and foliage of all kinds – annuals, biennials, perennials, bulbs small shrubs and roses.

During spring and summer, it’s easy to have plenty of cutting choices but fall and winter takes a little more planning. For a succession of bloom throughout the growing season in your area, choose plants that blossom in different seasons. For the highest bloom production, plant annuals with early season, mid-season and late season bloomers grouped together. Plant taller plants toward the back of your garden so they won’t shade out shorter varieties of other plants. Don’t forget to add plant supports for those tall stems and heavy flowers. Supports will help keep them standing tall and straight and looking gorgeous in your bouquets.

Picking blossoms regularly is the best way to keep plants blooming throughout the season. Removing faded blossoms (deadheading) also keeps plants from forming seeds, which slows down flowering. While you’re in the garden harvesting and deadheading it is a great time to check for insects and pests that might be attacking your plants and take appropriate action.

When a plant’s main blooming season begins to wind down and it stops flowering, pull them, cultivate the bed, and replant with new seedlings. Pansies are early summer bloomers but they won’t bloom once the days get too hot. You can then replace them with marigolds or zinnias.

When harvesting your blooms, keep in mind that every flower has the perfect stage at which it should be harvested to insure the longest vase life. For beautiful arrangements that last a long time in the vase, cut your flowers during morning or evening hours when it’s cooler.

Once cut, strip off the lower leaves on the stems, so the leaves don’t sit in water. It’s best to re-cut the stems under water to make sure they absorb water easily after harvest. This can be done by keeping a small bowl of water nearby when preparing the flowers and snipping off about a quarter inch of the stem under the water in the bowl. To condition your flowers and even further increase the vase life, plunge the stems into a fifty-fifty solution of lemon-lime soda and water with one or two drops of bleach to the gallon added. You can use this same solution to feed the flowers in the vase, and it will keep well in the refrigerator. Change the water daily in your arrangement and be sure no leaves or flower buds are left underwater in the vase to rot or decay.

Here are some suggestions for plants to go in your cutting garden. Remember, annuals last one year unless they self-seed themselves. Perennials will return year after year to supply you with bouquet material. Biennials will bloom every 2 years, needing a year to grow and a year to bloom. A well thought out cutting garden will contain some of each to keep the blooming season going as long as possible.

ANNUALS: ageratum, Bells of Ireland, calendula, campanula, celosia, cleome, cosmos, dianthus, lisianthis, geranium, gypsophila (baby’s breath), strawflower, nicotiana, pansy, petunia, phlox, scabiosa, snapdragon, statice, sunflower, sweet pea, zinnia

PERENNIALS: yarrow, aster, campanula, carnation, coreopsis. delphinium, dianthus, foxglove, purple coneflower, coral bells, lupine, phlox, poppy, black-eyed Susan, sage, Shasta daisy, veronica

FOLIAGE PLANTS: artemisia, coleus, dusty miller, hosta, lamb’s ears, lavender

TREES AND SHRUBS: juniper, pine, cedar, lilac, mock orange, red twig dogwood, pussy willow, forsythia, magnolia, gardenia, azalea, maple, willow

Now that you’ve planted your cutting garden, do you have more flowers than you can handle? Drop some off at an elderly housing center, hospital, hospice or make arrangements for friends and family. Many of the flowers from the cutting garden will also dry well. Hang them upside down in a cool, dry place to dry. Once dry, spray them with a preservative and use them in dried flower arrangements.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Now is the time to start protecting those outside plants and gardens to keep the foliage from folding under this cold snap.

When it comes to protecting your outdoor plants from the winter months there are some definite dos and don’ts to help ensure you save them and continue to see green.

“We’re kind of caught off guard. This freeze is coming really fast. We’re not ready, so we’ve got to prepare quickly,” said Robyn Conley, Green Acres Nursery Supply.

Calling all green thumbs, if you have ferns, tropical, citrus, cacti, vegetable gardens, or even Christmas trees outside, all of your hard work and pricey plants could be in jeopardy of snapping as the valley prepares for some seasonable weather.

Fortunately, Conley has some ways to help keep your plants from feeling frostbitten.

“Do water your plants. It will provide an insulating effect to the roots of the plants.”

Second, cover your plants with a frost cloth. One sheet protects an entire vegetable garden at Green Acres and costs about $12.

“Frost cloth is designed to provide sunlight, airflow and water penetration,” said Conley.

Lastly, spray wilt stop on the plant. An entire bottle costs about $10, and is much cheaper than replacing a $75 mandarin citrus tree.

But not everything has to brave the elements.

“If you have any of these in pots, you can move them under a porch or into the garage for the duration of the freeze,” said Conley.

However, you should avoid bringing them inside because it will take too long for plants to adjust to climate and temperature changes.

Some plants, such as azaleas, violas and pansies, can hold up in the winter elements without any protection.

Experts also advice, avoid pruning your plants until spring if they suffer some weather damage.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Now is the time to start protecting those outside plants and gardens to keep the foliage from folding under this cold snap.

When it comes to protecting your outdoor plants from the winter months there are some definite dos and don’ts to help ensure you save them and continue to see green.

“We’re kind of caught off guard. This freeze is coming really fast. We’re not ready, so we’ve got to prepare quickly,” said Robyn Conley, Green Acres Nursery Supply.

Calling all green thumbs, if you have ferns, tropical, citrus, cacti, vegetable gardens, or even Christmas trees outside, all of your hard work and pricey plants could be in jeopardy of snapping as the valley prepares for some seasonable weather.

Fortunately, Conley has some ways to help keep your plants from feeling frostbitten.

“Do water your plants. It will provide an insulating effect to the roots of the plants.”

Second, cover your plants with a frost cloth. One sheet protects an entire vegetable garden at Green Acres and costs about $12.

“Frost cloth is designed to provide sunlight, airflow and water penetration,” said Conley.

Lastly, spray wilt stop on the plant. An entire bottle costs about $10, and is much cheaper than replacing a $75 mandarin citrus tree.

But not everything has to brave the elements.

“If you have any of these in pots, you can move them under a porch or into the garage for the duration of the freeze,” said Conley.

However, you should avoid bringing them inside because it will take too long for plants to adjust to climate and temperature changes.

Some plants, such as azaleas, violas and pansies, can hold up in the winter elements without any protection.

Experts also advice, avoid pruning your plants until spring if they suffer some weather damage.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Now is the time to start protecting those outside plants and gardens to keep the foliage from folding under this cold snap.

When it comes to protecting your outdoor plants from the winter months there are some definite dos and don’ts to help ensure you save them and continue to see green.

“We’re kind of caught off guard. This freeze is coming really fast. We’re not ready, so we’ve got to prepare quickly,” said Robyn Conley, Green Acres Nursery Supply.

Calling all green thumbs, if you have ferns, tropical, citrus, cacti, vegetable gardens, or even Christmas trees outside, all of your hard work and pricey plants could be in jeopardy of snapping as the valley prepares for some seasonable weather.

Fortunately, Conley has some ways to help keep your plants from feeling frostbitten.

“Do water your plants. It will provide an insulating effect to the roots of the plants.”

Second, cover your plants with a frost cloth. One sheet protects an entire vegetable garden at Green Acres and costs about $12.

“Frost cloth is designed to provide sunlight, airflow and water penetration,” said Conley.

Lastly, spray wilt stop on the plant. An entire bottle costs about $10, and is much cheaper than replacing a $75 mandarin citrus tree.

But not everything has to brave the elements.

“If you have any of these in pots, you can move them under a porch or into the garage for the duration of the freeze,” said Conley.

However, you should avoid bringing them inside because it will take too long for plants to adjust to climate and temperature changes.

Some plants, such as azaleas, violas and pansies, can hold up in the winter elements without any protection.

Experts also advice, avoid pruning your plants until spring if they suffer some weather damage.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Now is the time to start protecting those outside plants and gardens to keep the foliage from folding under this cold snap.

When it comes to protecting your outdoor plants from the winter months there are some definite dos and don’ts to help ensure you save them and continue to see green.

“We’re kind of caught off guard. This freeze is coming really fast. We’re not ready, so we’ve got to prepare quickly,” said Robyn Conley, Green Acres Nursery Supply.

Calling all green thumbs, if you have ferns, tropical, citrus, cacti, vegetable gardens, or even Christmas trees outside, all of your hard work and pricey plants could be in jeopardy of snapping as the valley prepares for some seasonable weather.

Fortunately, Conley has some ways to help keep your plants from feeling frostbitten.

“Do water your plants. It will provide an insulating effect to the roots of the plants.”

Second, cover your plants with a frost cloth. One sheet protects an entire vegetable garden at Green Acres and costs about $12.

“Frost cloth is designed to provide sunlight, airflow and water penetration,” said Conley.

Lastly, spray wilt stop on the plant. An entire bottle costs about $10, and is much cheaper than replacing a $75 mandarin citrus tree.

But not everything has to brave the elements.

“If you have any of these in pots, you can move them under a porch or into the garage for the duration of the freeze,” said Conley.

However, you should avoid bringing them inside because it will take too long for plants to adjust to climate and temperature changes.

Some plants, such as azaleas, violas and pansies, can hold up in the winter elements without any protection.

Experts also advice, avoid pruning your plants until spring if they suffer some weather damage.