How the “hard freeze” could affect your plants
Temperatures this past Sunday night bottomed out at 24 degrees for the city of Columbia. If you have taken a stroll through most wooded areas around Mid-Missouri, you probably noticed a short period of flowers blooming. This early on-sent of pre mature blooming and budding has put plants at risk of damages from these cooler temperatures or worse.
Typically the last freeze usually falls on April 15th for Mid-Missouri signifying safety for the plants spring efforts to remain alive and healthy.
Overnight lows tonight look to cool below freezing once again bordering a hard freeze once again for northern portions of the area.
It is a good idea to cover or bring in any freshly planted plants if you can tonight to prevent any potential damage. Thankfully, most plants send out their most hardy buds and blooms first. This gives the plants a better chance to survive their flowering period if a freeze sneaks in on the premature warming trend. If you are currently worried about your plants healthy after last night, check the flowers for any white/ brown marks. This is a sign of welting, thankfully this does not mean the plant is dead. In extreme cases it could be, but most likely the flowering process will be haulted but the plants long term health should remain high.
The worst case would be a longer lasting freeze with more dramatic lows that could kill a larger population of plants. Thankfully, we look to warm to near or above average trends throughout the rest of the week.
