Happy Holidays from Plantique!
We sincerely appreciate your business and interest in our company, and wish you a joyous and prosperous new year.
Plantique wishes you and yours all the best for the holidays, and always. We also look forward to sharing many landscaping tips, news and special events with you in 2010. Our designers and crews have lots of great creative ideas, new products and landscaping innovations to share with you as well. Now is a great time for planning your 2009 landscaping projects and renovations, so inform [at] plantique [dot] com (contact our design team) today and set your ideas in motion.
5 Winter Landscape Maintenance Dos and Don’ts
Here are some of our best cold-weather tips to help set the record straight on how to care for your winter landscape.
DON’T dig out plants after every snowfall.
DO let Mother Nature’s snowy blanket offer your plants valuable insulation from the harsh winter elements.
Jake McFarland, Plantique’s horticulturist since 1994, says that while you may have heard some interesting "home remedies" for wintering over plants, human intervention isn't usually the best solution. Mother Nature protects her plants in her own way. Digging out plants, especially re-cently installed or other more-sensitive ones, can actually cause more harm than good. Your shovel or scraper may hurt the branches or stems, and you might take away the valuable insula-tion that a blanket of snow can provide. Your designer and our nursery staff selected the best plant materials for your location and conditions, and we stand by our warrantees. So leave the snowy plants alone and enjoy the scenic wintry view out your window!
DON’T try to cut down ice-storm-damaged tree limbs in dangerously bad weather conditions.
DO call in experts to do the job safely and correctly.
Unfortunately, there isn't much homeowners can safely do on their own to protect very old, large trees from ice-storm damage. Branches are often too high or too immense to reach from a safe location, even if there were an easy solution. That doesn't mean ignore the risk. Harm to either people or property resulting from a fallen tree or limb is a serious concern. It is best to contact a certified arborist to discuss your options before the cold weather comes. An arborist can also best assess the damage to a tree after ice-storm injury has occurred. These specialists can de-vise a proper action plan for pruning, trimming and TLC that can often help a tree survive and flourish for years to follow. Plantique's Forever Green Tree & Landscape Maintenance division is ready to assist you year-round. Contact us by calling 610-481-9882 (Allentown), 610-861-8566 (Bethlehem) or by e-mailing inform [at] plantique [dot] com.
DON’T over do it with deicing salt on your driveways and walkways.
DO use the least amount necessary, and be sure to clean it away when the surfaces are clear and dry.
While deicing agents such as salt and calcium chloride are effective at melting the snow and ice, they can also harm some plant material. It's best to keep the use of salt and calcium chloride products to a minimum, and to remove them from your driveways and walkways as soon as the surface no longer needs it. If you do use a deicer, spread the smallest amount necessary to be-gin breaking up the hardened chunks of ice, then get in there with your shovel and some elbow grease.
Besides your plants, many driveway and walkway surfaces do not hold up well to excessive salting or deicing, especially those made from concrete. And don't forget that on softer paving surfaces, such as brick, concrete pavers and flagstone, you should stick with a plastic snow shovel. Metal shovels can chip and damage the material lying just below the ice and snow.
DON’T worry about the hibernating fish if the surface of your pond freezes over.
DO make sure the pond doesn’t freeze completely down to the bottom.
Since fish hibernate at the bottom of ponds for the winter, they should survive just fine. Just be sure the pond doesn't completely freeze through to the bottom. In the late, chilly part of fall, you can even stop feeding your fish, since they won't digest food properly in the cold water anyway.
In winter, it may not be necessarily to shut down your pond completely, either. If you do decide to leave it running, keep an eye out for ice dams that can form on the waterfalls. These dams can cause leaks. You will need to continue to clear out leaves and debris as they build up in the pond, too.
Some water plants may need to be wintered over indoors. Click here for a list of water garden plants and their care instruction from Penn State's Cooperative Extension Web site.
For an excellent comprehensive guide to caring for of ponds and waterfalls, please refer to Aquascape's maintenance, tips and troubleshooting Web page.
DON’T forget your pottery!
DO empty and store planters in a semi-heated area over the winter.
To best care for and prevent cold-induced damage to your pottery, make sure these items are emptied out and stored in a semi-heated area. Stone fountains should be drained and covered, and stored per the care instructions that came with these items when they were purchased. Most outdoor furniture should also be stored indoors or sheltered from the weather. Please fol-low the manufacturer's care and storage instructions for all your outdoor furniture and other man-made garden product.
ON OUR BLOG
Check out our latest post on winter landscape care.
For more great advice about how care for your landscaping check out our Tips & FAQs, newsletter archives and Aftercare pages, where you'll find plenty of useful information on land-scaping and gardening.
