BATON ROUGE - A week after a winter storm dropped temperatures to seven degrees and left more than six inches of snow on the ground, it's time to take protective covers off plants.

Experts say even if your plants are not looking healthy, they may not be a total loss. Before the freeze, palm trees were thriving and green, but after the storm, some looked wilted.

Scott Ricca is a co-owner at Clegg’s Nursery in Baton Rouge and says plants may look beyond repair at first glance, but that might not be the case.

"Sometimes it's deceiving what could be dead and what is still alive," Ricca said.

He has some advice for plant owners, suggesting they survey plants, determining whether there’s foliage damage or stem damage.

“If you don't like the way that looks, you can simply pull the leaves off just to get that sight out,” Ricca said. “If you have some tissue that you're certain is dead, you can cut that back.”

He says a good rule for green thumbs is to wait it out and be patient. Some plants like azaleas, which normally perform well in winter weather, might have split stems later in the season. Damage might not be obvious until as late as June.

For example, palm trees don’t grow until the warmed months, and waiting until then could give better insight into the damage they might have received during the cold spell.

“By June or July, if you don't see emerging new growth, that might be a sign that you have lost that palm,” Ricca said.

Experts also recommend holding off on pruning, and gently scraping away a branch's or stem's outer bark can show if a plant is still alive. With Valentine's Day around the corner, Ricca says the snowfall will not affect roses.