It’s Time to Give Your Garden A Rinse And A Cut

North Kingstown residents patrolling their yards to pick up dead branches may wonder how the unusually harsh winter has affected the landscape.

John Dittman, the town facilities foreman, oversees parks and other public lands. He reports that most trees came through the recent weather with few problems. “The pine trees took the worst hit from the heavy snow,” he said. They sustained a higher than usual number of broken branches.

Brian Maynard, chair of the horticulture department at the University of Rhode Island, agrees that pines and hemlocks suffered the most damage this winter. Maynard said that dryness at the roots of the trees translated to dry needles and weakened branches.

But Maynard, who specializes in perennials, says that two months of snow cover was “fantastic” for perennial plants because it insulated the ground during a season when greenery otherwise tends to dry out.

“When it gets down to zero or five above, it’s great to see lots of snow,” he explained.

Now, Maynard says, the biggest threat to perennial gardens comes from melting snow mixed with de-icing chemicals. That combination will kill plants if it settles into soil around their roots.

He urges residents who saw their garden beds covered with shoveled or plowed snow to irrigate the plants as soon as possible and rinse away any chemical residue.

“Right now it makes sense to add water,” he said. 

If your shrubs and bushes emerged from the snow bent and twisted, Maynard said, this is a good time to stake and tie the branches to approximate their usual shape. Otherwise, they may not spring back as they should. 

For other winter damage, Maynard suggests waiting a month to see if those dry scaly-looking branches start regenerating on their own.

But if you look at your greenery and see that it needs thinning and shaping aside from winter problems, Maynard said, “Prune now.”

The URI Master Gardener Program has a pruning guide along with a fact sheet on avoiding and dealing with winter injury.

The Master Gardener program also has specialized fact sheets on pruning shrubs, evergreens , and hedges. 

Maybe the best signs of how nature coped with this cold, snowy winter are the bulbs pushing their leaves up through the frozen soil in sunny spots, bringing a promise of color coming soon.