Utica, NY (WIBX) - This evening's forecast is predicting freezing temperatures that may damage some newly blooming plants and crops. But, some in the horticulture business are offering some useful advice. Lynette S. Kay is the Consumer Horticulture Program Assistant at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oneida County. She says some plants, like Daffodils, are pretty much adapted to the cold weather and don't need to be covered, but other plants that don't typically bloom at this time, may need an extra layer of protection.

"So, if you can still possibly get some Evergreen Bows and put it over the top of, say you have Mums coming up, or if your Garden Flocks is coming up, just put a nice little cover like a blanket over the top of them and leave it on for this cold weather that's due to come on," she said. Kay says using a sheet or a blanket offers minimum protection, and damage could still occur because the air temperate can penetrate them. She says the only sure thing is to simply wait it out and hope for the best.

She said, "You can wait it out. It's probably not going to totally kill the plants. What will happen is if the tender new shoots get hit by the frost and if it's a perennial plant, you know, something that comes back every year normally, what will happen is it will knock the plant down and it will just reemerge once the weather starts coming up again." She adds that house plants that were brought outside when the weather was nicer should be brought back inside until the weather improves. When it comes to crops, Kay says fruit trees, or strawberries and other crops that may be flowering, or at a certain bud state, may get knocked back by the cold weather.

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