However, passionate gardeners like Sue Schwaller understand the heartbreak of seeing your plants after a long freeze. Kornegay swears by the scratch test. That plant’s going to be just fine,” Kornegay said after performing the test on a plant at his shop. Cut the plant’s limbs or leaves only if they do not pass the scratch test or if the parts are mushy, he said. ”You just cut all of those back and those roots will be just fine,” Kornegay said.