From tulips to hydrangeas, to perennials to Queen Palms or shrubs, tender or large plants can be horticulturists’ playground, but severe weather could be their nightmare.

Winter’s worst doesn’t have to leave a bad taste in your mouth. Home and garden experts give simple tips on how to keep your most precious plants safe during frigid temperatures.

Home and garden writer Steve Silk said keep it simple and experiment with different salvaging methods.

“I started experimenting … using everything from small glass domes to homemade, doghouse-size plastic greenhouses,” Silk said. “I soon realized winter cover-ups could provide an extra zone or more of warmth.

“I’ve used these devices to help late-season transplants get established … and coddle a few choice perennials that would otherwise never survive winters in my garden,” Silk said.

Because plants die if winter temperatures are too frigid to endure, Silk recommends protecting plants with water, mulch and shelter.

“I prepare marginally hardy or recently planted perennials, trees and shrubs for winter,” Silk said. “I make sure at-risk plants are deeply watered before the ground freezes … I give new plants a two-to-four inch blanket of mulch … recently transplanted or marginally hardy evergreens get a spray of an anti-transparent.”

Selma resident and longtime florist Linda Harrell agrees and believes “mulching” plants annually is a surefire solution to saving them.

“The best thing you can do is mulch them this time of year,” Harrell said. “I prefer pine straw for my trees and shrubs this time of year, but to each its own.”

And for trees and shrubberies that may have a higher chance of dying during the cold, Harrell said cutting them back could be an option.

“It’s hard to keep any plant fresh this time of year because most plants will lose their leaves,” Harrell said. “A lot of plants don’t use their foliage; Boxwood and shrubbery, you can cut back.”

Overturned plastic pots, lengths of burlap, shredded leaves and heavy-duty paper bags, have been some of the methods Silk said he’s used for his plants that needed special coddling. Whatever you use, Silk said, it doesn’t have to be elaborate.

“Unless you make the effort to build an artistic shelter, chances are that an array of protected plants is going to look like a hastily abandoned campground,” Silk said. “To avoid aesthetic crises, I tuck my tender treasures at the bottom of a gentle slope in the backyard, where they can’t be seen from the house.”

Silk also said a burlap wrap works well for shrubs or small trees. For larger plants, Silk said, use more ingenuity, especially ones with woody stems.

“The simplest shelter is a quick cocoon of coarse burlap or floating row cover,” Silk said. “I just take a length of material long enough to wrap around the plant a couple of times, drape the fabric over one side of the plant and then wrap it loosely as I were rolling up a rug, positioning the branches to avoid breakage.”

Harrell agrees.

“If it’s a certain type of shrub and there’s no hard freeze, like in the 20s (degrees), I would recommend placing some in a burlap sack or plastic bag until the weather passes,” Harrell said. “If the sun comes up, take it off.”