SFA prepares gardens for freeze as temperatures dip ahead of spring plant sale

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (KTRE) - SFA Gardens is coming up on its annual spring plant sale, but with a freeze moving into the area this weekend, they are rushing to protect the plants to make sure they are ready for the spring sale.

With the warmer weather we have seen in the last few weeks, Dr. David Creech, the director of SFA Gardens, said their plants think it’s spring and are in full bloom.

“Early bloom is scary, and it was precipitated by all the mild temperatures we’ve had in, really, in January and February. When you have heat for a week or so, these plants say, ‘I’m going to go ahead and do it; I’m going to leaf out,’” Creech said.

Jordan Cunningham, the garden’s green house and nursery manager, said they are preparing for their annual spring plant sale, and normally the plants being in full bloom would be a great thing, but a freeze Sunday and Monday mornings could hurt them.

“Once the temperature goes down and stays down to a low level for an extended period of time, we could get a lot of damage to not just blooms but new growth. So, we’re trying to prepare for that,” Cunningham said.

Creech said they are preparing as much as they can today but will continue to work before the freeze hits.

“We’ve got a team that will be here on Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon to get things kind of ‘tucked in’ for the event, “Creech said.

Cunningham said they are moving what they can into greenhouses and using frost fabric on everything else, in addition to turning their sprinklers on to create a warm barrier for the plants.

“We are getting everything ready to go; all the plants in the greenhouse are ready. We’re just a little worried about our outdoor plants to get them to survive this dramatic temperature change,” Cunningham said.

The Spring Plant Sale will take place April 1 and 2 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Native Plant Center.

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