Community Corner

Flowers Sprout Despite the Cold

A local expert offers advice for keeping your plants healthy when cold temps hit.

Even though winter storms have hit hard, Hermosa Beach prepares for the spring season ahead as flowers sprout along the Greenbelt; patches of purple and hints of red embellish Veterans Parkway; and fields of white line Ardmore Avenue, between 17th and 25th streets.

Some plants in your local landscape could use special care, however, as temperatures drop this weekend. For example, plants should not be fertilized when colder temperatures are expected, . She is the general manager of the Marina del Rey Garden Center.

To keep your plants healthy as harsh winter weather moves through the South Bay, here are some other tips from Hough:

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  • Cover your plants: "For new vegetables and herbs and plants with tender new growth or newly planted, you can cover them with a plastic tarp and use stakes so that the plastic and plant don't make contact." If they do, the plastic simply conducts the cold to the plant, Hough said. 
  • Hough cautioned that you don't want to subject a plant to extremes, so if you bring them inside, make sure the temperature isn't too warm or that you don't leave the plants inside too long. 
  • It may be three or four days after a cold spell before cold damage is visible on a plant, Hough said. In any case, she told Patch that leaves that look damaged should be left on the plant and not pruned in case more cold weather hits.

Do you have a garden and plan to grow certain flowers this year? 


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