When it snows, many gardeners worry about the impact of winter conditions on their plants, but it can actually protect rather than harm your landscape.
The good news is that snow is often called “white mulch.” Your perennials and rose bushes nestled under fluffy white stuff are in some of the best winter conditions possible. Trees, shrubs, and evergreens also thrive when their roots are protected with snow. The only downside is if heavy, wet snow or ice weighs down the branches and snaps them.
Let it Snow
In fact, when you’re out shoveling snow off your drive or sidewalk, don’t worry if the snow is building up around the plants (as long as it doesn’t contain a lot of deicer—see below). You’re simply protecting the plants from temperature extremes.
If you do get a heavy snow that weighs down branches, it usually doesn’t hurt if you go out and shake it off particularly prized plants. If ice coats them, however, it’s usually better to leave them be. Trying to free them from an ice casing might well do more harm than good.
Before long, crocuses and daffodils and other early spring bulbs will be pushing up—usually just in time for a late-winter snow or ice storm. Again, gardeners fret about the impact of the weather on these little beauties. But early spring bulbs are adapted to snow and ice. Once again, the only problem is if the flowers are in bloom and snow or ice snaps the stems. When this happens, I just go out and cut the flowers with badly bent stems so I can enjoy them for several days indoors, up close and personal.
Plants Don’t Like Deicers
A bigger problem is the salt—more accurately called deicer—that we use to keep roads, driveways, and sidewalks safer. When smaller plants are exposed too much to deicers, it can have a negative impact on them later on in the growing season, such as discolored leaves, early leaf drop, and even twig dieback.
It can be hard to tell how much deicer is too much for plants. The plants at the biggest risk are those planted alongside a public road, where deicer is heavily applied. Salts might not do damage one year, but as the salts accumulate in the soil, they can cause problems.
Late winter or spring salt applications are most likely to cause damage to plants. If you think they are in danger, in the spring, flush the area around their roots with water to leech the salts. You can also create a burlap or other barrier between the plant and any paved surface to prevent splashing.
Consider Salt-Tolerant Plants
If salt is a continual problem, consider replacing any damaged plants with salt-tolerant plants, such as daylilies, junipers, rugosa roses, sedum, columbine, goldenrod, dianthus, butterfly week, blanket flower, Russian sage, and ornamental grasses.
In areas where you, rather than the city or county, control the deicer application, you can do a few things to keep your plants healthy.
Most importantly, use deicer sparingly. A little will go a long way. And with the deicer you do use, choose an alternative that is more plant-friendly, like sodium chloride, rather than calcium chloride, which is more damaging to plants. Read the deicer package directions carefully. Usually they’ll let you know if that type of deicer is less damaging to your garden than other types.
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