Will We Ever See Our Shrubs Again?

You’ve raked the roof, cleared the car and are tossing the last shovelful of sandy slush onto the ugly brown mound at the head of the driveway. That’s when the question hits you: Will I ever see my lawn and shrubs again?

And when you do, what kind of shape will they be in?

The good news, experts say, is that, unlike your roof, plants and shrubs don’t suffer from a record-breaking snowfall.

In most cases, “a thick blanket of snow will protect your perennials,” says James McInnis of the  Home and Garden Education Center in Storrs.

His colleague, Carol Quish, elaborates: “Extended snow cover … keeps the soil at a constant temperature, reducing heaving and subsequent root damage. The melting snow, once it thaws, provides moisture to thirsty plants when they come out of winter's dormancy.”

Of course it also provides cover for mice and voles, who tunnel under the snow to the tops of plants, where they feed, Quish points out.

Jesse Soloshun, of Moscarillo’s  Garden Center & Florist in West Hartford, says most of the winter’s immediate damage to plants -- especially shrubs and trees -- has been from ice that snaps branches. How lawns will fare will depend a lot on how much ice-melt product homeowners use to keep their sidewalks and driveways passable, he said. The more they use, obviously, the more potential harm to the lawn.

According to McInnis, the main issue for what he terms “marginally hearty perennials” is the minimum temperature. The snow can prevent those plants from hitting sub-zero temperatures even when the air does.

The fact that the plants are buried longer than normal is of little consequence, he says, since they don’t photosynthesize at those temperatures anyway.

What they are buried with can have an impact, however, Quish adds. “The constant and heavy snow cover keeps any diseased leaves from last year in place under plants, leading to the possibility of new infections on susceptible plants this year.”

Once the spring thaw starts, there are several potential problems, she said. One is flooding that can waterlog the ground, depriving plants of oxygen. (The up side is that if the ground is well drained, the plants get plenty of water.)

Lawns can also suffer from a fungal disease called snow mold if conditions are right, Quish said. Raking affected areas to improve aeration will help them recover, she said.   

One casualty of the winter that might have an impact on next spring’s plants are New England’s greenhouses, Soloshun said. He just got back from a convention where many growers said their unheated perennial greenhouses had collapsed under the weight of the snow. It remains to be seen how much they recover in the months ahead, and how those losses might affect prices.