Expert: Freeze coming this week could kill blooming flowers

Bone-chilling temps on the way, flurries possible for parts of NC

Douglas Ruhren, the gardens manager at JC Raulston Arboretum, said the best way to protect flowers and plants is to cover them with a bed sheet, an old quilt or a plastic cover. If flowers have already bloomed, there's a good chance they will not survive this cold snap. Plants will be more likely to survive.

"A lot of the things that bloom this time of year have a large number of flower buds, so the cold will usually kill a lot of the open flowers," said Ruhren. "But the buds that are still tight are usually not hurt by the cold, so when we have another warm spell, they'll come back into bloom."

Ruhren said many of the plants at the arboretum are planted to see how they respond to the elements here, and many are too tall to be covered.

WRAL News reached out to a blueberry farmer in Bunn. He said his crop is expected to be okay, because the plants are not in full bloom yet

A hard freeze in late March or April, though, would be devastating for his blueberries, he said.