Homeowners getting creative to protect plants during extreme cold
By Lee Peck
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MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — It’s almost too late to prepare for this cold — but you still have time to protect your plants. If you’re not sure if the plant will make it — if it’s potted you might want to bring it inside or definitely cover it up. And as we found out — some homeowners are getting creative.
Ginny McClinton’s yard in Midtown Mobile is like a secret garden — colorful surprises here, there… and just about everywhere.
“It’s so wonderful to see what’s coming up and I know these are God’s plants and I just trust it’s going to look like he wants it,” said Ginny.
But with the extreme cold weather just hours away — Miss Ginny is going to help where she can.
“These are Daylilies — they’re in this pot. They come up and however you want to say it — lay over and bloom,” explains Ginny.
Insulating some of her more vulnerable beauties — she’s experimenting with Christmas lights for added warmth.
“And I’ve just used some fencing that I had from somewhere else — stringing the lights across there and I’m going to cover them with this tarp. And hope they make it,” said Ginny.
She proudly gives us a tour of her garden.
“That’s a Bleeding Heart — and it’s a pink one. I have a white one also. It is a little bit sensitive — so this is probably going to take it out… But they come back soo,” said Ginny.
She says it’s been several years since she had to take protective measures like this.
“These are Angel Trumpets… They will probably — they may not freeze all the way back to the ground. They do if the winter is really bad but they’ll come back out too,” said Ginny.
While she likes the work — she really enjoys sharing her plants.
“That’s the beauty of having them is that you get to enjoy them — but it’s that other people can enjoy them too,” said Ginny.
As we continue our visit — she takes inventory of the most “at risk” plants.
“I save cotton blankets, and beach towels, and this is my Roll Tide blankey — (laughs).”
While she hopes to save them all — there’s none more sentimental than her staghorn fern
“My grandmother gave it to my mother — shortly before she died in 76, 77,” recalled Ginny. “And I’m going to cut it and divide it so all of my cousins will have a piece of it… But this has been growing since 1977.”
Putting in the work — she knows that’s half the battle to protect them from Mother Nature.
“It will be interesting to see — I’m hopeful. It’s all we can do — do the best we can,” said Ginny.
The ones she is protecting with Christmas lights — she plans to pot and donate to the Mobile SPCA’s spring plant sale.
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