Styrofoam cups to the rescue (frost blankets, too)

We've had a very mild winter so far with just a few brief dips below freezing. So much so that I'd been lulled into thinking we were out of the woods. But all that is about to change as an arctic front is headed our way.

The lows forecast by the various weather services vary wildly between 24°F and 28°F. 24°F seems unlikely, but even 28°F isn't good news for our flowering aloes. I'm not worried about the plants themselves—the majority of them are perfectly hardy—but the emerging flowers could be damaged to the point where they stop developing. I'm not covering aloes that are in full bloom, hoping that the flowers are hardy enough to deal with the cold weather.

Taking a cue from what gardeners do in Arizona to protect the growing points of their cacti, I put Styrofoam cups over any emerging aloe flowers and covered the largest aloe with unopened flowers ('Erik the Red') with a frost blanket.

I'll remove the foam cups (and blankets) as soon as this cold snap is over. I promise, I won't become the guy Loree Bohl describes in this hilarious post on her blog, the danger garden.

Aloe humilis × ferox (covered with cups) and Aloe 'Erik the Red' (covered with a frost blanket)

Left to right: Aloe wickensii (covered with cups), Aloe 'Erik the Red' (covered with a frost blanket), and Aloe betsileensis × striata (covered with a cup)

Aloe wickensii covered with cups

Aloe wickensii covered with cups

Aloe hereroensis covered with a cup, Aloe bulbillifera hybrid not covered

 (it flowers multiple times throughout the year anyway)

Aloe 'Yemeni Gold' (an A. sabaea hybrid) covered with cups

Top of this Aloe speciosa × barberae inflorescence covered

I also covered Aloe mawii × globuligemma and Aloe alooides (not pictured) as well as Agave chazaroi, Agave gypsophila × isthmensis, and some San Diego purchases (Aloe divaricata and Dracaena draco):

I'm hoping a) that the lows will be higher than forecast, and b) that my efforts will be enough to prevent the worst damage.

As I mentioned earlier, the forecasts provided by various weather services often vary significantly. Take a look:

AccuWeather:

Weather Channel:

Weather Underground (same forecast as Weather Channel above):

National Weather Service:

Morecast:

Since Davis is a small town, some services (like AccuWeather) use data for Sacramento International Airport, which is 18 miles away in a completely exposed location near the Sacramento River. The most reliable forecasts draw on data from a local source, such as University Airport, a small airport owned by UC Davis. Based on my personal experience, I find that Morecast and the National Weather Service provide the most accurate forecast for our garden.

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