Tried something new this year — horticultural fleece. I usually take my tropicals out onto the back deck once the weather warms up. If you were more cautious than me, you’d wait until Mother’s Day in Chicago, but I do it when I can and hope for the best.
We had a brief weather dip the last two days, so I ordered some horticultural fleece online to protect them — in theory, some sunlight can still get in through the fleece, and some moisture, but it’s like a little blanket against the cold.
I got a combo of things — several bags in different sizes, with drawstrings at the bottom, which were pretty easy to put on over the big plants (though I needed to get Kevin to help me with the tallest one). And one giant piece, which can be cut up for row covers, etc. I cut some to drape over a plant stand holding several smaller plants. Link in comments.
They arrived a day later than they were supposed to, gah, so the plants definitely suffered a bit. We’ll see how they do once I take them off later today.