With freezing temperatures still a ways off, now is the time to prepare your plants for the winter season, says Lis Friemoth, a gardening expert who provides concierge and horticultural services.
Some plants prefer the cold and will last outside longer than others. For example, Friemoth said, citrus will tolerate temperatures down to about 29 degrees before the fruit becomes badly affected.
"Keep in mind that any kind of fruit you're bringing in more than likely is going to have scale on it at some point in its life," she said. "And you just have to watch for it and pick it off."
Orchids, too, like cooler weather at night, so moving them to a shaded location outside for a few days might promote flowering.
Bulbs, on the other hand, will need to be planted soon, Friemoth said, noting that nighttime highs are expected to dip into the 30s and 40s in the next few weeks. Watch for soil temperatures to drop from about 55 degrees before planting the bulbs.
"You don't want to put them in when the soil is too warm, or else they'll start to sprout before they really should," she said.
Annuals should be coming inside now, and tropical plants need to be moved when temperatures at night get below 50 degrees.
"Start thinking about bringing any of those in and transitioning them slowly so that they don't drop all their leaves and stress themselves out over winter," Friemoth said.
Friemoth warned that any plants being brought inside should be watched carefully for insects so they're not also moving in with your plants.
"If you've got the space for it setting them aside you know in a garage or something and watching what's crawling around on them is probably a good thing," she said.
Make sure you're paying attention to light, too. Friemoth said that about 85 percent of light is lost when a plant moves from the outdoors inside. Plants that like semi-shade or filtered light can handle a bit more sun inside.
Full-sun plants will require a grow light, even if they're placed in sunny windows.
Here are some other tips for overwintering your plants:
1. If you can't plant baby trees before winter, at least bury the pots underground. That's a better alternative to overwintering them on top of the soil, Friemoth said. If you absolutely can't plant them in your own yard, ask a friend to use theirs. Dig a hole or a trench for the pots, and make sure the soil is tight against them. Water them until there is a hard freeze.
2. Any plants that are in raised planters should be protected with hay or straw bales to insulate the outside edge and the bottom of the container.
"The reason why you're looking at protecting anything in a container for over winter is the freeze-thaw effect of those nice hot sunny days when it hits the sides of any type of a raised bed, container, etc. — it's going to heat that up and that's actually going to activate the roots on the inside," Friemoth said.
That encourages the plant to start growing. But another cold snap will kill growth activity, and cause too much stress on the plant.
"What you're looking to do is keep it as moderated as possible and that's what the the bales and the mulch and the insulation, etc., are for," she said.
3. Now is the time to dig up and replant peonies, which Friemoth describes as cold-loving plants.
When you dig a peony or herbaceous peony up, you'll see small nubs facing upward. When replanting peonies, the nubs should be within 2 to 3 inches of the soil surface.
"Once you put that into the ground, you should look at it and say, 'Gee, I think that should be a little deeper.' You've got it just right. Don't move it. Don't touch it," Friemoth said.
4. Halloween is one of the recommended times to fertilize your lawn. But make sure you're using a slow-release fertilizer in the perennial beds, Friemoth said.
She recommends checking the fertilizer formula to make sure that it's going to last through spring.
"This is a great time to do things like that because when you using slow release, it gets into the soil and it dissipates and it's ready for the plant early in spring when it's actively growing and looking for nutrients," she said.
5. You still have some time to move hearty potted plants into their permanent locations, but Friemoth advises covering the area where they're planted after the ground freezes solid (usually around the second week of December). You can use a few inches of leaves or mulch to protect the root zone from changes in temperature.
"That's actually where we get the most damage," she said. "Not from the cold itself, but from the cold, warm, cold, warm (temperature fluctuations)."
6. Friemoth said it's important to get at least a few inches of water on plants that were recently moved before the hard freeze sets in.
"Some of those deciduous plants are not going to take up a lot of moisture once the leaves start to go into full senescence," she said. "But getting some moisture on those root zones, allowing those root hairs to develop and really hunker down for winter is absolutely essential to get them to survive next year."