VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — With potential for frost in the forecast, you might need to take some steps to take care of your plants. So, News 3 stopped by McDonald Garden Center in Virginia Beach to find out what you need to know.
“It’s just very lightweight," McDonald Garden Center Retail Operations Director Michael Wesphal said as he demonstrated how frost cloth is used.
It's like a sheet that covers plants to keep the frost off of them.
Watch: Unpredictable weather creates challenges for Chesapeake flower farm
Wesphal said cloth will be used to help protect some of the plants at the garden center.
If you don’t have frost cloth, covering plants with a plastic pot is another option.
If you can’t cover your plants, or you do cover them but they still get frost on them, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll need to get new plants.
Watch: First Warning Forecast: Much cooler today, Freeze Warning overnight
“Most plants will actually survive it. The top foliage, some of the newer growth especially, might get some burn on it. That’s called a typical winter burn even though we’re out of the winter. What you would do there is just prune them off, clip off the bad leaves," Wesphal explained. "Give it a couple days just to see how it kind of reacts. You’ll see your plant wilting like it needs to be watered. We had plenty of rain just the other day, so you shouldn’t need to water anything especially if it got that rainfall."
While the possible frost does mean more work for the garden center, the garden center is not complaining.
Watch: Some Virginia farmers concerned about drought conditions
“We know that this is a possibility. Mother Nature will throw us some curve balls from time to time. Yeah, we’re going to have to go through and protect our plants. We might put a bunch of them on racks and get them into a greenhouse, but it’s pretty easy to kind of do. We’re ready for it. We’re always ready for that, and that’s kind of what we pride ourselves on," Wesphal said.
He added sweet potato vine, basil, and anything with new growth on it are the most at risk of being damaged by frost.
