Shrub damage revealed!
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Kenneth K. Lam
The snow is melting, slowly, around my house in Annapolis and the damage to my foundation plantings is beginning to reveal itself.
And it isn't pretty.
The fothergilla gardenii across the front of my house has been crushed and broken. If the snow hadn't been 40 inches deep, I might have been able to get to them with a broom and brush most of it off.
But by the time I could make my way across the yard, the snow had turned crusty and icy and I was worried that I'd do more harm than good.
Laura Mathews, a Pennsylvania gardener and photographer and the spirit behind the community garden blog Punk Rock Gardens, has posted pruning advice from arborist Jon Schach, who says some of our shrubs can be revived and some can't. And some make take pruning that we aren't skilled enough to do.
"For other woody plants damaged but salvageable, you may just need to take a breath, get over the loss of aesthetic, and deal with it," he writes.
Read on for more of his advice.
In addition, Cylburn Arboretum on Greenspring Avenue in Baltimore holds free workshops on pruning trees and shrubs. There is one Saturday from 9-2. For more information, e-mail nancy.hill@cylburnassociation.org
Comments
its not just me, huh? I'm fairly new to gardening and just put in 8 new shrubs last fall - the ones I can see where the snow has gone, seem to have just disappeared. Not a great start to my gardening experience. In addition, the 3 shrubs that are probably 60 years old look like they might be done for.
in the future, if I could have gotten to them with hot water, would that have been a solution? I kept looking at the 4 ft of snow covering my plants and wondering what to do.
Hot water? Now that's something I'd never heard before. Anybody else? -- Susan
Posted by: AK | February 25, 2010 12:46 PM
Our ancient azaleas are gradually standing upright again as the snow melts, except for those closest to the house--they got whomped by avalanches of snow falling off the roof and are crushed. The hardest hit shrubs are the boxwoods. We have half a dozen, and I am afraid they may all have to be replaced--unless there is some way to tidy them up. Suggestions?
I am no arborist, but I am hearing that heavy pruning and then waiting years for them to come back! --Susan
Posted by: Dahlink | February 25, 2010 5:45 PM
My azalea is looking raggedy.
For about five years, I owned a house with a small boxwood hedge. I could tell - and appreciated - the view that the previous owners were trying to block. Having priced boxwoods, I also understand why they used little plants. I was amazed at how slowly boxwoods grow. From year to year, I was never sure if there was actual growth or if I just really, really wanted there to be growth so I imagined it.
Posted by: Eve | February 26, 2010 11:30 AM