This is the time to be looking for any winter damage that may occurred or may be occurring in the landscape. Pick a nice sunny day and take a stroll around the yard to see if rodents or rabbits may be nibbling on any of your garden treasurers. After we have a snow storm is a good time to check around the base of your shrubs especially Burning Bush for any gnawing that may have occurred. Shrews, mice and rabbits can cause problems when they are looking for a food source. If you notice damage near ground level it would be a good idea to pull any grass, vegetation or mulch at least 6” away from the base of your plants so that any protection for the vermin is removed. When severe damage is noticed, or you have plants that are vulnerable from foraging critters in the winter it would be a good idea to wrap the stems of these plants with chicken wire or hardware cloth.
 Another situation that occurs during the winter months is sunscald on young trees, especially on some of the maples with thin bark. Varieties like the red or swamp maples (Acer rubrum varieties) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum selections) are some of most vulnerable varieties affected by this phenomenon. The damage is caused by sudden changes in bark/trunk temperature when a cloud covers the sun for a few minutes on a very cold sunny day. This drastic change in temperature ruptures cells causing them to die resulting in a crack in the bark that can be from a few inches up to 2 or 3 feet in length. Unfortunately this damage may not be visible until the end of the summer after growth makes this damage apparent. This crack develops on the southwest side of the tree. Fortunately this winter has been rather mild and we may not have a severe problem this year. A simple solution to this problem is to place a protective cover around the trunks of young trees about Thanksgiving time. These “tree guards” can be removed at Easter for the growing season. (See photo) The guards are inexpensive and easy to install /remove /store. They should be light in color to avoid heat build-up near the trunk of the tree.
 The month of March can be one of the most damaging periods in the winter due to heavy, wet snow storms. Most of the time it is best to avoid removing snow from plants as this may cause more damage. However, if large evergreens like arborvitae, hemlocks or pine trees are laden down with heavy, wet snow serious breakage can occur to branches. When a situation of heavy snow is likely, it is a good idea to gently brush off this heavy snow as it accumulates before there is a large amount on the plants that causes damage. Alternatively, you can tie up the foliage with some old stockings or pantyhose, this can be removed at the end of March after the danger of a heavy snow is past.
 Let us know if we can answer any questions for you at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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