How Will Trees Be Affected by Spring's False Start? Q. After a late-winter warm spell that was followed by early-spring cold, I noticed that the trees in my neighborhood did not fully blossom. Even crab apple blossoms perished in the cold. What can we expect by summer? A. Plants are very resilient and should not suffer long-term damage from such weather patterns, said Mark Fisher, director of horticulture at Brooklyn Botanic Garden - though he added that if fruit-tree flowers die off, there will be a missing fruit crop. "It is not uncommon for us in a normal spring to have warm days followed by cool days," he said. A cold snap following warm weather will just slow things down. One thing that could potentially cause long-term harm, Mr. Fisher said, is snow, which can break leafy branches and kill new growth. For that reason, he said, "our native trees are slower to leaf out - just to be on the safe side and protect themselves from this situation." Another seasonal threat to the fruit crop, Mr. Fisher said, is that in rainy springs, when trees bloom in sustained wet conditions, "pollination is impacted, because bees and many other common pollinators don't like the rain." Questions of general interest will be answered in this column, but requests for medical advice cannot be honored and unpublished letters cannot be answered individually.