Winter Care for the Landscape

Saturday, December 01, 2007 03:58 AM

After a heavy snowfall, carefully shake off the snow from bent branches on trees and shrubs. The snow can permanently bend the branches or worse yet break the branch. If the branch has been broken it needs to be removed near the break before more damage is caused. Tying it back or trying to attach it back to the tree will not work. Trees that are easily damaged such as cedars should be wrapped with netting or string in the fall to help prevent this from occurring. Also flowering shrubs that have brittle branches such as potentillas, spirea, roses, etc. can have their branches easily broken but it is usually not a problem as these are easily cut back in the spring and will regain their shape. This is why it is a good idea to prune roses back by half in the fall and then fine tune prune in the spring as this will make them less vulnerable.

When removing snow from driveways and walkways pile the snow under trees and overhangs where there may not be as much snow. The extra snow will give added frost protection to plants as well as in the spring when it melts give extra moisture to the plant.

Use caution when melting ice off of sidewalks/driveways. Salt works well but it can also cause damage to trees, shrubs, grass etc. in the spring. Many of the ice melters contain also contain soluble salts. A good alternative would be to use 46-0-0 a fertilizer that contains 46% nitrogen and works very well in melting ice. Of course too much 46-0-0 will also cause a burn so in the spring if there is an excessive amount of fertilizer leach out the soil with water to prevent any damage.

Be careful where you walk in the winter as you can cause damage to plants and lawns by walking on them. I have a dog at home that always follows the same path and in the spring everything on that path is dead. This is because the frost penetrates into the ground and in turn kills the plants.

-Jos

Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Garden Centres in Prince George: