Weather warning (freeze) for Central Texas

Just a heads up, since a lot of us seem to be near this area. First freeze warning for the Hill Country Sunday morning. Don't forget to protect your delicate plants Saturday.

Thank you!  So many of my summer things have only done well since the weather cooled.  Not sure I have enough blankets to go around!

Up here in central Oklahoma it's the first freeze of the year tonight and it looks like it's gonna be a hard one.  I put my tender tree seedlings to bed today and harvested the last of my tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, and african horned melons.

The high yesterday was during the morning before the sun came up, then the norther hit.  I am so tired of tomatoes I told DH that he could get rid of what ever we had left.  I picked the milkweed pods and brought them in to finish drying.  The freeze probably wouldn't hurt them except I would not want to pick them in the cold.

woke up to a cool 28 here in the plains.

Lots of freeze damage even to things I covered.  I decided to give up on the Eggplants, they looked so sad and had never been productive, so I removed them today and cleared the spot for Lettuce.  I'll see if the Peppers will recover.  Uncovered Sweet Potatoes probably bit the dust (though if they have tubers, those may survive).  Covered Sweet Potatoes were damaged a bit but mostly ok.  Lots of damage to Canna but they will survive, going dormant. Not sure what to expect from the Turmeric - I believe it is supposed to go dormant and survive in this climate.

29 degrees at my place in central tx. Ended up being a nice sunny 70 degree day.

The only vegetables we have are cabbages. Of the flowers, Saturday low temps got the Turks Caps, Sunday freeze made the milkweed and sage look sad. Sweet asylum looks fine as does the firewheels.  We have a big green area where the bluebonnets have come up.  Yesterday was a really nice day as the temps got up into the mid 60s and I was outside without a jacket.  I even saw a yellow and orange butterfly.

The only frost sensitive plant we had were the sweet potatoes. I pulled half a dozen massive purple sweet potatoes from the ones that volunteered. We're talking two pound potatoes. Pretty good for a plant that doesn't need watering, weeding, or fertilizing. Last year I pulled the plants before the first frost and they didn't produce a single usable potato, so it's clear that we just barely have enough growing season for this variety.

We got just about the same amount of orange sweet potatoes from the four cuttings we rooted this spring. My niece, who I let dig those, has vehemently claimed the largest orange one to eat as a lunch.

My saffron is finally sprouting. That's a big relief because we're bordering on too hot for it here. I planted it last fall and got one flower. They're huge blooms for such a tiny plant. Seeing how it does this winter will determine if they stay in that spot or get moved to a slightly shadier location.

Adding: One big surprise is that the tomato and eggplant didn't seem hurt at all.

We had a hard freeze a few days ago and things got killed back a little.  I think it was in the low 20s to high teens here in our little valley, which is a bit of a frost pocket.  My Fava Beans got more damaged than I had hoped but I think if I trim off the damaged parts they will regrow from the base which will make for a sturdier bushy plant anyway.

I had the same experience here. Worst damage was on the Windor, followed by the crimson flowered, and the land race from Joseph Lofthouse hardly has any damage. It doesn't look like I lost any plants, but I'm going to leave the damaged portion attached until I'm confident there won't be more freezes. I'm hoping that like perennials, the dead material will still serve as protection from future frosts.