Hello again from the Northwest, where we usually have balmy winters. Today we are in the midst of frozen rain on top of snow. Please let me know whether I should break off the ice on my plants or leave them to thaw naturally. And a few pictures of our winter wonderland. Here is the backyard, with the neighbors birch trees bending over. Have been hearing the snaps of breaking trees since last night. Backyard in ice/snowstorm ( photo / image / picture from Karrma's Garden ) A few herbs and flowers. Pirus japon-icicle ( photo / image / picture from Karrma's Garden ) Curly willow ( photo / image / picture from Karrma's Garden ) English Lavendar seedpods ( photo / image / picture from Karrma's Garden ) These look like a million tiny snowglobes. Azalea ( photo / image / picture from Karrma's Garden ) Rosemary ( photo / image / picture from Karrma's Garden ) And still harvested it yesterday to make a wonderful lamb roast, along with fresh iced thyme and dries mint from last fall. And even in this snowstorm, the white snowy Alyssum is still blooming away. Sweet Alyssum ( photo / image / picture from Karrma's Garden ) Another picture, from a week ago, showing our local fisherman on a much nicer but still cold day. Kingfisher in winger ( photo / image / picture from Karrma's Garden )
I am in the same area as you. Beautiful to look at, scary to hear the fir boughs and trees breaking. Better harvest the rosemary and put it in the freezer. It doesn't usually make it through a winter like this (we are marginal for whether or not it winters over). You never know though. I had some next to the house survive when I was told most had froze out. It is good we have such a nice insulation of snow for a lot of the plants. I am worried about a couple of my rhodies. Have never seen them laid down like they are under the ice and snow. Will be interested to hear what others do when this kind of weather hits. Stay safe and hope you haven't lost any power.
We are in Texas now, but we gardened in upstate NY for about 25 years. For perennials and herbs, leave them alone. The snow is actually a mulch for their roots, and the snow and cold damage to the foliage isn't usually a killer. For trees, if you can rig a support (a 2"x2" T-bar for example) for larger limbs, do so. Place the T support under the limbs to keep them from bowing and breaking. If you can remove some snow or ice, good. If not, don't worry, the brace will keep the limb from separating from the trunk. Most trees native to your area can adapt to the conditions. Your photos reminded me why we moved to Texas!
Karma, Janes advice for propping the branches is good advice. Other than that I would leave anything with ice alone. the ice is heavy and quickly tends to break the plant if it gets moved and twists the branch or stem, than it snaps. After the ice is gone take a quick walk around the yard and try to get anything that looks really bad trimmed off and leave the rest til spring. Hope your yucky weather goes away soon. I heard it was really bad. Stay safe and warm.
It's been quite a while since I had to do deal with ice. But I remember a friend's dad said to "leave mother nature to her business." But I do think we should give a helping hand in some instances. If I were in your shoes, I'm sure I'd follow the advice given so far. But.... on a side note... those are some AWESOME photos! I hope there isn't too much long-term damage.
I have also propped tree up T made out of 2x4s. But our larger tree. Close to house. We hooked up hose and ran it through mud room out let. Had water on warm. And sprayed tree. It melted ice. And we ran water in gutters.Only one around that didn't have tree damage or gutters ripped off house.We has since put heat tapes in them and one side of roof. Good luck.
I am so sorry and agree that you should only prop up the larger branches and let mother nature deal with all the rest. If the small things break it's just like an animal gnawing on them. They should survive. I think ice protects in some way. Maybe you shouldn't try to get the ice off. I must also say your, mother nature, is being beautiful at the moment along with your, photos. Barb in Pa.
Our neighbor thought we was nuts spraying tree.Until his big tree branch broke from weight. -went through garage- and into NEW car. Still had paper plates on it.Had it 2 days.
KK the clear of the gutters is something we will be doing this AM. Thanks for the advice. So sad to hear about what happened to your neighbor. Glad you avoided those kind of problems.
Oh this storm was in Feb. And didn't want tree to take down power lines. But lost power neighbor's tree took it out.Glad we have gas heater that has no blower.And generator.Neighbor had to sleep on blow up bed here. His wife was on our sofa.
Thank you for all the good info. We survived, and were without power for a couple of days, back on line last night finally. Did lose one big branch off of a rhodie that needed pruning anyways: here the rhodies can get as big as a tree, and grow back from a stump.
Glad to hear you survived with minimal damage and inconvenience. Perhaps this will be a very unusual event for you, not to be repeated in a lifetime!
