I have 3 huge planters filled with cold intolerant impatiens. One also has a huge purple Persian shield (which is a tropical plant).

Two are mobile one is not. The weather yesterday said temps here are going to be 20 degrees F below normal this week at night. So I have to figure a way to protect them. I'll ask hubby to bring the two up and put in the house, but the other, I'll have to cover. I hope that works. I was hoping to get them thru Oct... which we can do some seasons.

Here is a picture I took in July, when they were small (minus the 3rd planter which I made upNorth, which is long and very bushy too). The Persian shield is in the back and not very tall yet. NOW it is almost 3 ft tall! Getting that planter in the foreground HOME was a trick in and of itself! We lowered it gently into an empty Rubbermaid tote (like the one I linked to earlier in this thread) and the fragile stems just bent upward and were protected. I'll have to remember this trick for the future! The third photo is this planter from vacation on our porch there, and it is now much larger even!

Does anyone recommend a better material for covering? Should it be thick like a tarp? Or will plastic trash bags work?

The second picture is showing a wild coneflower that grew very tall, taller than typically for us. That is hubby standing under it for scale. I guess all the rain we had this year was the reason, and also the decaying bird seed must have fertilized it. This is a type of Rudbeckia that grows along creeks and streams here, and it has a green eye instead of a black/brown one. We were stunned to see it when we returned this summer! The fence is normally at a slant, because we live on a hill... it slopes down from back to front.