Protect your plants; freeze warning issued for northern Illinois

Sensitive outdoor plants may be killed overnight Monday into Tuesday if they are not covered or brought into the house.

A freeze warning has been issued for most of northern Illinois beginning at midnight Tuesday as temperatures as low as the upper 20s and lowers 30s are possible. McHenry, Lake, Ogle, Lee, DeKalb, Kane, DuPage, La Salle, Bureau, Putnam, Whiteside, Kendall and northern Will counties are among those affected in the warning.

If you have a houseplant or hanging basket outside, bring those inside or at the very least into a garage.

Any plants recently from a greenhouse will not do well. Freshly-planted trees also will not fare well if they have not spent much time in the elements.

Plants such as tomatoes don’t do well in the cold, Afton Salata of Danchris Nursery has told Shaw Media for previous freeze reports. She suggested covering garden plants, flowers and other annuals with something that will give it some insulation, such as extra mulch, a blanket or burlap sack, and also covering it with a five gallon bucket to give more protection.

Most shrubbery will do fine in the cold, she said. Young trees may have blankets put on them, but late frosts and freezes are especially hard on fruit trees. In-ground sprinkler systems should be drained to avoid freezing pipes in the system.

Low temperatures will be in the 30s again Tuesday night into Wednesday morning across northern Illinois, according to the AccuWeather forecast. Highs will remain the 50s until Friday when they are expected to climb into the 60s. A mostly dry week is predicted.