As the the temperature drops, when do we hit the danger zone for plants and pipes?
"Normally, we have this kind of weather around Thanksgiving where it gets cold, but this year it's held off," said Paul Noe, the staff horticulturalist at Star Nursery.
Noe says for sensitive plants like Hibiscus and Gardenias, he would start protecting them when it gets below 34 degrees Fahrenheit. For regular plants, he starts to worry when we get between 28 and 30 degrees. For some hardy plants, like fruit trees and evergreens, there's nothing to worry about. The cold doesn't bother them.
Protecting your plants is easy. Almost any sheet of fabric you drape over greenery to prevent frost from settling in will work.
The other big outdoor concern: Pipes.
"It's crazy. I've lived here for over 15 years and you know you get some really, really cold weather," said Robert Curtin, a branch manager at Max Plumbing.
Freezing pipes are bad. It's also hard on them to endure big temperature fluctuations. For professional plumbers, they start to think about covering pipes once we get below 35 degrees.
No one wants an extra bill waiting under the tree.
