We’re halfway through potting up all the plants we’ve overwintered, but are looking at temps below freezing for the next two nights. Today will be about getting covers ready for everything and setting up ambient warmth for several of our plants that are currently flowering. On my way home from a doctor’s appointment, I stopped to pick up a cutting of a curly willow (Salix matsudana) from a woman in town whose tree was damaged in a recent snow storm.
This one cutting was turned into a dozen after I got home. I’ve planted out three or four and the remaining sections were loosely bundled and placed into our five gallon bucket with several other varieties of willow we’re rooting in water.
What’s growing on with you all?
What’s a good way to create ambient warmth for overnight?
Today’s temperature didn’t get as high as I would have liked, so I’ll be filling some buckets with warm water, closing them, and then placing them near the plants before covering everything with light blankets. Another nursery near us has electricity access for many of theirs, and use incandescent string lights to buffer their plants against the cold. The family owned orchard the next town over has said that if the frost is later than a certain amount of flowering, they’ll do small bonfires throughout the orchard to provide protection.
