Snow Maintenance

This past spring, after the snowpocalypse had melted, a lot of homeowners assessed their gardens and the consequent snow damage.  Chances are if you had Thuja or a dreaded Bradford pear, it was mutilated by snow loading.  Even boxwoods, which are usually tougher than their less-expensive lookalike, Ilex crenata, suffered some serious snow damage due to excessive loads.

So if we can expect as much snow in 2011, what to do to combat such damage?  Some will suggest that you knock the snow off the branches, others say leave well enough alone.  Donnan.com has a post about this quandary and concludes that removing the snow is best.  However, the plants they cite as likely-to-be-damaged are species like Thuja and Pyrus calleryana - both of which are fast-growing and consequently weak-wooded.  I'd agree that, if you want to protect those species, you're best served to remove the snow.  But when you consider a tougher plant (Picea pungens glauca, or a holly from a region in zone 4 or 5) I would leave them be.  These plants have evolved for centuries to withstand snow and probably don't need our help.  Let's face it, we'll probably just make matters worse.  I should note that I wouldn't plant a Thuja  in this area unless it's a cultivar that is particularly hardy to snow.  'Steeplechase,' which was cultivated by Manor View Farms, is a particularly hardy plant.

Adrian Higgins wrote a piece for the Washington Post last spring, citing the various local species that were worst-hit by last year's storms.  This can serve as a kind of list of "don'ts" when selecting plants for snowy areas, though I'd still risk using a boxwood or two, and help protect them from snow loading by proper pruning techniques...!