Cold snap prompts gardeners to protect plants ahead of freezing night

GLENSIDE, Pa. (WPVI) -- A sudden blast of cold weather made a spring day feel more like winter, sending people back into coats and raising concerns about plants freezing overnight in parts of the region.

At Primex Garden Center in Glenside, employees spent the day preparing fragile plants to be brought indoors as temperatures are expected to drop significantly by the evening. The garden center was busy organizing plants and supplies to shield them from the cold.

"For folks at home, this is all it takes to cover them," one employee explained while demonstrating a simple setup using wire, winter guard, and clothespins to secure coverings over plants.

Sean O'Neill, nursery manager at Primex Garden Center, said protecting plants from sudden cold is critical for both their health and the business.

"If it's browned out, dried, crisped up, they're not buying it, so it would be detrimental to the business, so we have to do what we have to do to protect it," O'Neill said.

Rows of pallets and carts were prepped throughout the day as staff focused on moving vulnerable plants inside.

"All these pallets will be going in these carts... late spring, early summer stuff. Little fragile," O'Neill said.

Employees worked quickly ahead of what O'Neill described as a critical night.

"Tonight is our most critical evening, ground temps are plenty warm, which is very encouraging. They are not in hibernation, it's just a shock when temps dip this quickly this low," he said.

Sudden temperature changes are something the staff at Primex is used to handling, but O'Neill warned that not taking action can lead to visible damage.

"These start to melt, essentially they will droop over, look really sad and pathetic, and look kinda like this," he said.

Customers were also shopping for supplies to protect plants already in the ground. Felisa Armento of Jenkintown said she has a lot at stake after the recent planting.

"I replanted a whole bed... 12ft long bed... I have to protect all of it," Armento said.

O'Neill said the cost of not protecting plants could be devastating.

"Insanely costly if we were to have all this stuff get crisp, we wouldn't have our business. Nobody wants to buy ugly plants, people want flowers, the pretty thing. That's why they are coming here, they need color, attractive." he said.