The first frost is quickly approaching! As we creep into October, it’s time to start planning ahead so you know how to prepare your garden for winter after the first frost hits. Thankfully, our Horticulture Team has a few recommendations to get you started!

The “first frost” marks the first night where the surface temperature dips below freezing (32˚F), although the air temperature may still be in the mid- or upper-30s. A “freeze” occurs when the air temperature dips below freezing, and a “hard freeze” refers to a freeze that’s under 28˚F and will begin to kill or damage your plants.

At the Garden, our horticulture team doesn’t start preparing for winter until after the first hard freeze, which usually occurs in mid-October, according to Horticulturist Ashley Barkow – though she says it “seems unlikely this year,” due to the unusually high temperatures we’re seeing.

Once the first hard freeze does arrive, Barkow recommends removing any annuals first, “ripping them out of the ground with earnest.” Make sure you remove the entire plant, including its roots and any fallen plant matter!

Next, any perennials that are susceptible to cold temperatures will need to be trimmed back before blooming again in the spring. Barkow says you can typically identify frost-damaged plants by looking for stems and flowers that are wilting or turning black.

Once you’ve identified these perennials, you can either trim them down this fall (check out our previous blog about trimming back your rose bushes), or, as Horticulture Manager Lindsay Hendricks suggests, “you can leave them up as a food or habitat source for wildlife and cut back the following spring.”

If you’re cutting back your perennials this fall, Director of Horticulture Mark Konlock recommends leaving 8–12 inches of stem—and as many leaves as possible—to provide shelter for overwintering insects.

For any perennials that are extremely tender and sensitive to the cold, such as dahlias, canna lilies, or elephant ears, Konlock recommends digging up the bulbs before the first frost and storing them indoors over the winter.

If you have any woody plants or conifers in your garden, make sure to protect them from hungry deer! Konlock suggests wrapping any conifers in burlap, as well as with putting wire cages around any taller shrubs. While these steps aren’t necessary, they can greatly reduce the amount of plant matter you lose to deer this winter.

In addition to snacking on your shrubs, deer will also start “polishing” their antlers this fall by rubbing them on trees, leaving trees skinned of their bark. If this happens to any of your trees (in particular, any young or thin trees), Konlock recommends using a protective tree wrap to prevent them from sun damage throughout the winter.

Once you’ve finished tending to all the plants in your garden, make sure to do a final sweep! Bring in any hoses so they don’t freeze during the winter, and remove any labels, cages, or stakes. This is also the perfect time to clean and organize your gardening tools – not only will it make less work for you in the spring, but your supplies will last longer, as well!