JUNE 24, 2020 • Volume 15 • Issue 26
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Weathering
extreme weather
By Carole McCray More Content Now
I
t’s really simple, just some easy tricks to help you with your garden through extreme weather in both cold and warm climates. The following are tips to reassure you. Coping with heat and cold This tip may make you look slightly crazy when doing it, but I don’t worry about what the neighbors may think. It has worked out well to protect plants from being scorched by a heatwave. It makes sense; do as you would do yourself on an extremely hot day - seek some shade. One tip for shading plants is to throw old sheets over your vegetable or flower beds. For smaller areas, use umbrellas or even old window screens. These temporary barriers between your plants and the sun will reduce temperatures, ultraviolet rays and water loss through evaporation. I see ladies here in Cape May, the Victorian resort by the sea, walking with umbrellas to protect their skin. They are doing just like the Victorian ladies who donned their parasols and walked the promenade in the heat of the day years ago. This idea of protecting their skin from the sun could be applied to your plants as well. Protecting plants in cold Plants need to be protected not just in the heat but when cold snaps occur, usually either side of winter when plants
Heat-tolerant flower Carpet Pink Supreme Roses and Lobelia bloom in full sun. [ANTHONY TESSELAAR/ TESSELAAR.COM]
have naturally slowed down. Using straw or leaves heaped around the plants and insulating both the plants and the surrounding ground are easy to do since most perennials had a cut back. Old newspapers or carpet also are good insulators for plants. Frost and freezing are reduced as well as any serious damage. Come spring, remove the mulch you used to protect plants to allow for new spring growth. Tough performers Growing more reliable plants are the ones that will soldier on in extreme heat. For zones 4 through 11, Flower Carpet roses are low maintenance in heat and cold. Weigelia is a beautiful flowering shrub and is cold-hardy and heat-tolerant in zones 4-8. Tolerating high humidity and hot, dry locations, Lantana normally will behave as a winter-hardy perennial in zones 7-10; in colder climates, it will bloom as an annual. Gardeners in zones 4-9 will find gaillardia and coneflowers are heat-resistant, and if cut back after blooming, they should return the following summer. Try hard landscaping Any fence that slows wind is a friend to the gardener. A screen or fence can help desiccate winds. A shady pergola where the sun beats down the hardest can be both functional and attractive.
Weigelia flowering in late spring in full sun. [JANET KRIKSTON]
You might try one of these hard-landscaping ideas to help your plants survive erratic climate changes: A rain-garden trap to use falling water; a permeable gravel path to capture runoff; a water feature to store water; a shed to overwinter sensitive plants. Tough plants will help your garden weather the tougher times through extreme heat and cold.
Carole McCray resides in Cape May, New Jersey and is an award-winning garden writer who has been writing a monthly garden column, The Potting Shed, for regional newspapers for nearly 20 years. Her articles have been published in The Christian Science Monitor Newspaper, Coastal Living Magazine, Cape May Magazine, Growise Garden Guide and Ideals Magazine. She won the Garden Writer’s Association Award for newspaper writing for The Christian Science Monitor Newspaper.
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HOME HELP TIP OF THE WEEK
SOUNDPROOF YOUR HOME If you live on a busy street with lots of traffic noise or in a duplex or condo with noisy neighbors, soundproofing your home may be the solution. Here are some quick soundproofing tips from BobVila.com: 1. Insulation: “In your efforts to insulate your space, you’ll want to tackle large, hard surfaces first, which are the worst offenders in transmitting and reflecting sound waves. You can insulate walls in a number of ways, including putting up additional drywall or, preferably, MLV (massloaded vinyl) insulation. MLV is a thin, ultradense material that takes up less space than drywall yet is more effective at absorbing sound. MLV is typically layered inside the wall or ceiling, so if you’re looking for a lower-impact solution, try acoustic panels, which are installed on top of an existing surface. If you’d like a touch of elegance with your soundproofing, maybe micro-perforated wood should be your material of choice. These panels are pierced with tiny holes, practically invisible to the naked eye, that allow sound waves to penetrate to the insulating layer, which soaks up the noise.” 2. Seal cracks: “Keep sound waves from penetrating and lessen their impact by sealing cracks (most importantly around doors and windows). You can also weatherproof your doors with noise-canceling stripping or door sweeps. Running beads of acoustical caulk around gaps in your windows can guard against sounds and weather as well.” 3. Use rugs: “Hard flooring is a prime offender when it comes to amplifying noise. If you have wood or laminate floors, area rugs are essential. Opt for plush rugs with backing and a thick pile, and avoid rag rugs or kilims, which don’t have any backing.”
SPRING CLEANING
CLEAN FROM THE TOP DOWN When cleaning a room, order is important. Starting with the floor might mean recleaning areas you’ve already done. If you vacuum, sweep or mop before dusting furniture, blinds and countertops, you will knock more dirt down to the floor. This will undo your hard work. Start from the top of the room and work your way down.
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