As fall approaches in the Northeast it means two things for your outdoor living space and landscape: First, you only have a handful of days to take advantage of being outside in the comfortable weather, and second, you need to start preparing your landscape so it can survive the dreadful winter.
Remember, having an attractive and elegant landscape is an investment and it’s up to you to protect that investment. Winters in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut aren’t always kind to plant life so it’s important to have a plan, otherwise, you’ll be looking at spending more money to treat dead trees and shrubs that were damaged. Let’s take a look at the best ways to help protect your plant life and set your landscape up for success when spring and summer come back.
Cover Your Plants with Burlap
A simple and highly effective way to protect your plants from frost, snow, and ice is to wrap them with burlap. This is also a smart way to protect from winter burn, a combination of winter sunlight and decreased soil moisture. To cover your plants with burlap, start by taking three or four wooden stakes and place them around the plant, then take the burlap and drape them around the stakes. Due to the harsh winters of the Northeast, it’s recommended that you protect your perennials and any newly planted shrubs or trees. As an alternative to deer repellent, burlap is sometimes used to cover shrubs that deer love to eat. An important tip: Don’t have the burlap touch the shrubs because if it freezes, it can harm the plant.
Don’t Forget to Prune
When the temperatures drop and winter is around the corner, it’s very important to remember to prune your trees and shrubs. Failing to do this will leave you with a not so pleasant-looking landscape when winter is over. Pruning during the winter is what we call “dormant pruning,” meaning that your plant is still alive but not actively growing, making it the perfect time to prune and shape. During this period, you can see exactly what you’re pruning and can easily remove any broken, weak, diseased, or dead branches.
What Are the Benefits of Pruning?
- Pruning helps a tree maintain its form and keeps it from overgrowing and branches growing in tricky directions.
- Promotes healthy growth
- Increases ability to withstand snow, ice, and strong winter storms
- Makes your trees and shrubs last longer
- Keeps harmful diseases and insect damage from affecting your plant life
To further help you with pruning this winter, take a look at how to avoid common pruning mistakes.
Add Extra Protection with Vapor Guard
Living in the Northeast, you have probably seen how harmful frost and winter chill can be for your shrubs and trees. Frost can kill plants that aren’t protected and you may see leaves go limp, turn black or appear that they have been burnt, and buds and stems that look damaged. A simple way to protect your plant life from frost is to use Vapor Guard, a spray that forms a coat on the leaves and reduces water loss.
Winter is coming, get the protection your plants need with help from the team at Neave.
Do you still have questions about how to best protect your plant life from the dreaded winter? The helpful and friendly experts at Neave Landscape Management can meet with you to help ensure that your plants are well protected and don’t get frostbitten this winter.
If you’re in the Hudson Valley, call us at (845) 463-0592. If you’re in Westchester County, call (914) 271-7996; from Connecticut, dial (203) 212-4800; from New Jersey, dial (201) 591-4570. Or, fill out our simple web form, and we’ll contact you about setting up your free consultation.