I planted my flowers to early, how do I best protect them from the cold?

I planted some daisies, tulips, and daffodils and seeded some blanket flowers in my garden early this week, but we are getting colder and its suppose to get to 34 degrees and maybe snow this weekend, what can I do to save my flowers. Note it has been raining most of this week too.



As long as it doesn't freeze, they should be okay. Any time you think you need to cover plants, make sure you use something like an old sheet that is secured in a way that it won't actually touch the plant and make sure you remove it as soon as the danger of frost is over. I have used pieces of wood driven into the ground with the sheet sort of raised like a tent above my plants to keep the frost from getting them. You don't want it raised too much, you don't want it to touch them either.





I've also used large coffee cans and other large plastic containers to cover flowers and since you've had a lot of rain this week, that might work better for you. Just make sure that whatever you use is removed as soon as the temperature starts to come back up and that it's large enough to not touch the plant. I live in Texas and the temp can be 32 when I get up in the morning and 50 by the time I'm showered and ready to go outside, so I've been in the flower beds in my pajamas more than once.......




The best thing you can do at this point is to place plastic bags over the plants. This will keep them protected from frost. Make sure that you place the bags over your flowers when it is 45 degrees and lower.





As for the future, my mother told me that it is best play it safe and plant the flowers after Mother's Day because most of the cold weather is over after that point. BTW, I live in Indiana, so the weather changes a lot here during the season transition. :)




Daisies tulips and daffodils should be frostproof, even if the tulips and daffs look a bit wilted in the frost they soon recover when it warms up. As the seeds have only just been planted and therefore have not yet germinated, the cold won't affect them. If it's raining then it's above freezing anyway. You don't say where you live, this would have been helpful when answering. Good luck!




Evil is right about the sheet.... don't use plastic bags or sheeting... plastic transfers the cold straight to the plant if it touches any part of it..... now, if you had a frame that would keep the plastic up off the plants, that would be okay....





you should cover the daisy.... everthing else should be fine....