54February 13, 2013

Well, I guess we a got a bit of snow! Shoveling that much snow should qualify as a few days at the gym.

With all that snow, you may have a tough time telling that you have shrubs in your yard. The deep snow can present a few problems for shrubs in your yard.
The amount of snow can weigh down the branches of arborvitae and other multi stem plants. As the snow builds up on a branch, it tends to fall to the ground. Your first instinct is to shake the branch or to knock on it with a broom. These plants will be brittle from the cold weather that we have had after the storm. A hard whack with a broom or a vigorous shake could cause a branch to snap. It would be better to carefully dig out around the branch and then gently brush off the excess snow. The branch will ultimately go back into position if there was no damage from the weight of the snow as the snow fell on the plant.

The amount of snow on the roof of the house will mean that some of you will have to shovel the snow off the roof. If you need to shovel off the roof, be careful not to push or throw the snow onto the shrubs that are planted around the house. The heavy snow, dropped from the height of the roof can cause major damage to the shrubs. Several years ago, we had a winter where we had lots of snow. Many shrubs were damaged from the snow being shoveled off of the roof of the house. I know that this can be a major job. I spent part of Sunday using a roof rake to get the snow off the roof. The shrubs that you have planted around your home are a major investment. Don’t throw that investment away because you need to shovel off the roof.

The aftermath of the snow also means that you may have to widen the driveway of the walkways. This is also a potential time to damage shrubs. Shoveling that snow back can mean that the snow you shovel, snow blow or plow can land on shrubs adjacent to the driveway or walkway. Again, a bit of prevention can save you tons of extra expenses come the spring.

Luckily, the snow we got was not the heavy pasty snow that other parts of the state received in the storm. However, you may have some broken limbs on trees in your yard. This can happen from the high winds in the storm. It is important that any damage be taken care of as soon as possible. If the damaged branch is left on the tree, or if the torn off branch has left a jagged edge exposed on the tree, water that gets into the area can cause further damage to the tree. I know it can be a major problem to get to these trees if they are away from the house. It is better to treat them now rather than wait until the spring.

Well, that’s all for this week. I’ll talk to you again next week.