TOLEDO, Ohio — As northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan continue to trudge through October, overnight freezes will become more and more likely.
However, local experts believe you don't need to worry about your outdoor plants quite yet.
Even though temperatures are expected to drop pretty low, Jenny Amstutz, the store manager of Nature's Corner, said one cold night likely will not impact your plants.
"You don't have to worry this time of year like you would have to worry in May with the freeze," Amstutz said. "The plants have been adjusting all throughout summer and getting into fall. So they're starting to harden off and slow down."
However, she said people can take precautionary steps if they'd like.
"Just scooch them underneath the overhang and put them back out tomorrow, Better safe than sorry," Amstutz said. "But mums and everything else are just so tough, they should be just fine."
Amstutz explained that a little bit of cleanup along with following your regular routine gets you a long way, or at least until the more consistent cold temperatures kick in.
"Make sure you're taking the leaves off of your lawn," said Amstutz. "You don't want those to stay on the grass all winter long. If you have any pruning to do, now is a good time to do that as the plants start to grow dormant."
For more tropical plants that are used to warmer temperatures, Amstutz said those should be taken inside and out of the cold in general this time of year.
"If in any of your planters, you have petunias that still look beautiful and you are just determined to make them last as late into the season as you can, those would be ones that you would want to protect during the cold nights like tonight," said Amstutz.
She also highly emphasized that people should take their house plants inside as well.
"It is way too cold for house plants, bring them inside," Amstutz said. "Look for insects on there, treat them, there's a few steps you can do with that but it is definitely way too cold for house plants and tropicals."
Amstutz said the fall season is also the most important time of the year to fertilize plants and give extra water to trees and shrubs you just put in the ground.
"You spend all that money and all that effort into doing that, give them a late drink so when the ground does start to freeze come December, January, it'll freeze moist," Amstutz said.
Amstutz said popular fall plants such as chrysanthemums and pansies will be fine with tomorrow morning's conditions.
For those moving their house plants indoors, she said to still treat them as you would when you had them outside and to make sure you're not overwatering them as the switch from outdoor to indoor is already a drastic enough change.