Don't you have a back up? Your plants do! Well the woody plants that is. Tucked in the intersection of the leaf stem and branch is the auxillary bud, the back-ups. Even the plants are ready for doomsday! If the terminal buds that are producing this years leaves are ruined by storms or frost, the stem energy is diverted to the axillary buds, and then the new growth initiates. In fact, in the early spring, the terminals give off a chemical that prohibits the auxillary buds from growing, so they stay dormant until disaster. (plants are so smart!)
Sorry I can't say the same thing for flowers of woody plants ie; grapes, apples other fruit trees.
Whether or not the flowers are ruined depends not only on possible cold & freezing temps., but the duration of the temperatures. Obviously one night is different then 10. These crops also rely on insect pollination, mainly bees. The honeybee only flies in sunny weather, another thing that can be unplentiful earlier than usual in the season. Mason bees, aka Orchard bees (pictured above) are native bees and indigenous to zone 4 and fly in any weather. You can easily build homes in blocks of wood to attract them to live & winter over in your garden. They are dark blue/black in color.
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