Is snow good or bad for your garden?
The answer is yes. It can be both. How you manage it makes all the difference.
To determine if it’s a good thing for your garden, it’s helpful to distinguish between the two main types of snow that can end up there. First is snowfall from the sky. It can range from powdery to heavy. The second kind is manmade accumulation that is densely packed (e.g., piles made by snow plows or from sliding off roofs).
Natural snowfall (the first type) tends to be helpful in the garden. It insulates plants and the ground by moderating temperature swings. Wide temperature swings can cause plants to heave out of the ground in freeze-thaw cycles and can cause bark to crack. Snow keeps the temperatures nice and even. It also provides water to plants as it slowly melts. While many plants are dormant during winter, they are still alive and need water. There’s no need to manage this type of snow. Nature is doing what it needs to do. You can sit back and enjoy the quiet stillness of the blanket of white with a cup of tea from your warm living room.
That said, if you have a blizzard with high snow totals or high winds that cause large snow drifts, you may need to intervene. Generally, plants that die back to the ground will be fine. It’s the ones with branches and trunks above ground that may need your help. The main damage from snow comes from the weight. Snow with high water content, the heavy dense stuff that makes perfect snowballs and snow people, can be very damaging for plants. The weight can cleave off branches of brittle wood trees like magnolias, bend and break shrubs, and permanently misshapen thin and narrow arborvitae. If you find yourself in any of these situations, you will need to act if possible and safe to do so. Here are four ways to ensure falling snow doesn’t negatively impact your garden.
Featured photograph, top, by Joseph Valentine, from Garden Visit: At Home at Juniper Hill Farm in New Hampshire.
1. Make sure to practice preventative care.
As a preventative measure, have your trees checked regularly and trimmed by an arborist. Opening up the crown of the tree lets in more light and air during the growing season and makes for a healthier tree. It also lightens the load when it comes to snow. However if you find yourself with a tree or shrub with a large amount of heavy snow, you may need to clear it off to prevent damage.
