Freezing temperatures can cause brown, crispy growth on plants that are susceptible to frost damage. Frost damage can occur when temperatures dip to or below the freezing point, 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). And both cold-hardy plants and tenderer plants that do best in warmer temperatures can, depending on the circumstances, be affected by frost damage.

Growth damaged by frost can look ugly, and your first impulse may be to prune it — but don’t. Believe it or not, you can do more damage if you remove the damaged growth too soon. In fact, those ugly brown leaves actually help to protect the interior of the plant from future freezes. So, let’s dive into frost damage — how it affects our plants and, more important, how and when to prune frost-damaged growth.