Texas Winter Preparation

 

Winter is coming to Texas.  It got down almost to freezing yesterday in the DFW area. The cities further North probably did freeze briefly.  Just means it's time to start to think about winterizing your more tender plants.  I've always said that I only want to plant things outside that can survive every winter.  Unfortunately not every winter is the same so I can only do my best.  Also the longer a plant has had time to acclimate, the better equipped it is to survive a harsher winter.

Some plants just have to come in of course.  One of our friends had a dozen or more plumeria plants which they kept on casters so they could easily bring them in every winter.  There is no way they would survive outside being tropical plants (trees) even though they have pretty sturdy branches.  We plan to one day have a greenhouse that would effectively make it possible to have a permanent home outsideish but in the mean time it's coming inside for the winter.  Just have to keep the cats away while it's there.

Going to try to protect the fig tree better this winter so it can hopefully come back strong next year.  It has struggled all year to make the few leaves it had and never had a chance to even think about fruiting.  If these new, more tender, branches can be kept safe though we have a chance to really get it going and have the tree we wanted in the first place.  Otherwise I may just have to dig it up and start over.