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When youve spent a bundle on plants and shrubs, it makes sense to look after them. However pretty the sculptural snow statues your trees and bushes have turned into, their branches can snap quite easily under the weight of heavy snow. And weve certainly had more than our fair share of that in the past couple of weeks. Still, I might need to do a little rescuing to ensure their well being.
Nearly everything in my yard is buried so Ill have to wait for a thaw to see whats happened to the smaller bushes. But the arbor vitae, which normally stand nice and tall like a row of soldiers, are all bent out of shape. Evergreens have springy limbs designed to withstand a certain amount of snow buildup, but even they will struggle with the amounts we've seen recently. If I dont knock the snow off my arbor vitae now, Im going to be pruning broken branches in the spring. And that means unsightly holes in my future hedge.
The best way to help your trees is to take a broom and tap them gently. Get off as much snow as you can. The branches should spring right back unless they have already snapped, in which case youll want to cut the broken limbs off to prevent disease. But that can wait for warmer weather.
Do you think the snow will ever stop falling? Im beginning to wonder.
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