Floating Row Covers Provide Frost Protection

It Will be Frosty Tonight

I'm so glad we found my floating row covers while we were decluttering the garage today. I've been covering plants in danger with old tee shirts for the past three nights in desperation. I've been most concerned about some root divisions of Jupiter's Beard I received just before the frosty nights started. I put some in a big  bowl of water and the little individual plants in a large pot because I didn't have any beds prepared for them yet.

 Floating Row Covers to the Rescue

Although I've covered the Jupiter's Beard with shirts at night, they don't look happy. It's also been a pain to cover them because I like to sleep late and my plants need the sun as soon as possible, whether I'm up or not. I'm delighted that I found my floating row covers that let the heat and light through and raise the temperature under what they cover. If it rains, they will also let the water through. Best of all, I can sleep in without worrying about uncovering my plants.

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I spread them over the bed with the potted Jupiter's Beard (Red Valerian) just before dark tonight. I weighed them down with anything heavy I had handy, including a small statue, a flower pot, and a heavy can I was about to throw out. I used clothespins to pin them to the shrubs and pot edges where handy. I won't have to get up early to remove the cover since it can stay on all day and night during this cold spell.

Floating Row Covers Protecting Plants, © B. Radisavljevic

These covers have worked for me over my raised beds in Templeton for years, but this is the first time I've used them here in Paso Robles. I like that you can choose a weight that is appropriate for the lowest temperature you expect to encounter. Since the daytime temperatures are also lower than usual, it's OK for me to leave the covers on day and night until it's warmer. I left these blooming daffodils out to look pretty, since they don't mind the cold.


I am hoping the floating row covers do the trick as they have in the past since I've weighted them down so they won't blow away. But one thing does worry me. See the neighbor kitty? He's doing more than supervising. He was also scratching around the back corner, now behind him. If he gets too curious, he could tear the edges or dislodge the weights. I wasn't counting on his presence. Fortunately the plants I most want to protect are in the middle and least likely to be uncovered.

Cat Supervising Placement of Floating Row Covers Protecting Plants, © B. Radisavljevic

Since I wasn't expecting to find these today, I didn't have my usual weights with me that I use in Templeton -- the abundant large rocks found all over that property. Gravel doesn't really do the trick.

When I still lived in Templeton, these floating row covers also helped me extend my growing season for my tomatoes so they could survive early frosts. See My Tomatoes Were Hit by a Late Frost in April. Remember that these covers come in different weights appropriate for different low temperatures. Be sure to pick the one that's right for your area.

Jupiter's Beard: A Mystery Finally Solved

Jupiter's Beard  © B. Radisavljevic

For many years Jupiter's Beard was a mystery plant to me. I saw it everywhere I went in gardens, but when I'd ask the owners of the gardens what it was, no one knew.   One day I saw it in a large pot at Nature's Touch in Templeton and I was sure I would finally find out its name, but even they couldn't tell me. I posted photos in gardening email groups, but no one knew there, either, what my mystery plant was.

Then one day a few months ago I was looking either online or in a gardening book and I finally found it. I could finally call it by its name -- Jupiter's Beard (AKA Red Valerian). Scientists call it Centranthus ruber. According to Becca Badgett, of the Gardening Know How Site in her article on Jupiter's Beard, parts of this plant are even edible. Yes, you can eat the leaves and roots.

Jupiter's Beard, in spite of also being called Red Valerian, is not the same as the Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) used in herbal preparations people use to help them sleep. That has very different leaves and is also known as garden heliotrope. Nevertheless, Jupiter's beard is considered an herb.

Whatever you call it, you can find it all over North County gardens. It is popular because it needs almost no care, has an attractive flower, and will grow in places many other flowers won't. You can use it on slopes, in poor soil, and in parts of your garden that are hard to irrigate. It can usually survive on rainfall alone. What it does not like are wet, shady places. It needs sun and good drainage.

My neighbor uses Jupiter's Beard at the very edge of her flower bed to add color. That is a red sage behind it.

Jupiter's Beard Hanging over My Neighbor's Garden Wall, © B. Radisavljevic

Jupiter's beard is considered a pest by some. It tends to be invasive. It reseeds in a way similar to dandelions. I know my neighbor is often tearing out her excess plants. Most of my photos here were taken of her garden. Next time she starts thinning her plants, I'm going to ask her for one.  I just learned they are very easy to root in water if you have a slip. If you would like to grow Jupiter's Beard and you don't know anyone you can get a slip from, Amazon has an amazing variety of seeds available that will give you many colors from which to choose.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it. The sharing buttons are just above the comment box at the end of this post. The photo below is especially designed for pinning. 

This is my tenth post for the 2016 AtoZchallenge, a Blogging Challenge for the month of April, 2016. My theme is plants, since this is a gardening blog. Here are links to the other posts if you missed them.

A is for Apple Blossoms
B is for Bottlebrush
C is for Carnations
D is for Daisy

E is for Elderberry
F is for Flowers
G is for Gazania
Hollyhocks are Edible
Irises Are Garden Survivors

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