What plants do Pittsburghers need to protect on cold nights?
Many have been excited about the unusually warm temperatures the Pittsburgh area has had these past weeks. The plants and trees are blooming.
And then comes the frost, as it does just about every year. Spring and winter temperatures collide, posing the question: to cover or not to cover? KDKA-TV went to McTighe's Garden Center in Shaler for answers.
"Let's start with tulips and hyacinths. They're everywhere. Do we need to cover them?" KDKA-TV's Barry Pintar asked.
"Don't have to cover anything, because they're a bulb plant," said Tom Watson, the manager at McTighe's Garden Center. "They'll come back, they're hardy during the cold weather time."
The rule of thumb: if they come up by themselves every year, known as perennials, chances are high they'll survive a frost.
So what should you cover?
"So, anything if you have — these are all just more indoor plants, floral mums, kalanchoes. If they're outside, they should be in a pot, you're better off just bringing them inside," Watson said.
Watson said you'll also have to cover herbs for the next couple of nights.
To some degree, you need to know your plants and what's called their "hardiness." The best thing you can do is go online and search specific plants if you're unsure. At McTighe's, they will be covering some plants the next few nights.
"What we use are these big kind of cloth coverings. They're just kind of basic. What you don't want to use is plastic. Anything plastic keeps the cold in," Watson said.
KDKA-TV also went to Phipps to ask about the bigger plants, like fruit trees.
"If you have like a flowering fruit tree that's small that you can cover, go ahead and try to cover it. But if you've just got a big mature tree, there's really nothing you can do," said Ben Dunigan, the director of horticulture at Phipps.
"The flowers are gonna die, essentially, and that's possible, but it's not gonna kill the three," Dunigan explained.
Some plants are a little bit of a mixed bag of tricks. Take the Lenten rose, for example. If it has blooms, the blooms will die, but that doesn't necessarily mean the plant will. It could grow new blooms.