Cover my plants?

I have some begonias, petunias, verbena, violas and pansies outside. As well as a few coleus. I live in Indiana and the temps up here have been in the 60s %26amp; 70s for the past two weeks with the nighttime temps not falling below 40. Well, tonight, it is supposed to fall to 37. Is it safe just to leave these plants alone or should I toss something over them?

Cover my plants?
37 isn't below freezing and it should only drop for a few hours so you are probably pretty safe leaving them alone.





Cover up - if you just don't wanna chance it. Any frost could potentially "burn" the leaves.
Reply:I also live in Indiana. I hear it is suppose to be down to near the freezing mark Monday morning (I think). As long as it doesn't frost your plants should be ok. The pansies and violas will be fine even if we do get a light frost. The coleus, begonias, and petunias I would cover if there is a chance of a frost. 37 degrees shouldn't be a problem especially if the flowers are close to the house. If it reaches to the lower 30's I would cover them just to be sure.
Reply:one trick we use in Texas near Houston on nights that are cold and near freezing we water the plants heavily just before the frost a heavy watering will help protect them where coveing them with a sheet hurts them by the weight of the sheet or plastic which will break the flowers and the stems
Reply:Glad to see you're so conscientious about those plants. You don't want to waste the work you've put into them so far so I would cover them gently. Nobody likes frostbite (except Bullwinkle the Moose in Frostbite Falls).





The Muse
Reply:The old saying ....Better be safe than sorry...it takes more effort to type on the net than it does to just cover the darn things!!!!
Reply:toss something over them because you never know!!
Reply:I'd throw a sheet over them, just to be safe.
Reply:i am not a real garden person but i think you should take them out just in case
Reply:We had the same condition in N.C. last week, I just put old sheets over everything just to make sure and all was fine.