Snow Damage

It was snowing on Saturday, and as the snow cancelled some social plans, I had some unexpected time to myself. I decided to tackle the issue of my seed box.

Temperatures tend to go to extreme heights during the summer and that can cause drought stress to lawns and gardens. You may be wondering why your lawn is turning brown or whether you can revive dead grass by watering it. There are easy answers to that but it’s better to know the signs of summer lawn stress and how to repair drought-damaged grass.

As the country begins taking stock of the damage caused by hurricane Ophelia and works to restore power to much of Scotland and Northern England, gardeners throughout the country are lamenting the destruction of their gardens.

Chionodoxa are beautiful, hardy spring flowering bulbs that are easy to grow. They grow 6inches tall from small bulbs and have pretty star-shaped flowers with long narrow leaves. (Also spelled Chinodoxa and common name Glory of the Snow). The blossom has a central line on each of 6 petals.

Snow on this honeysuckle Lonicera made it resemble a Christmas pudding. I must keep my pudding out of the shadows!

Snowdrops are officially called Galanthus. This snowdrop is Galanthus elwessii with larger than normal blooms and a honey scent the other main species are Nivalis and Plicatus. The snowdrop is very hardy, grows in most soils and prefers partial shade.

Snow White Waffle Plant is a must have indoors, especially if you have a little space. It is easy to look after and stays colorful all year round!

Woody ornamentals can be damaged by cold temperatures due to three main factors: lack of hardiness, early or late-season frosts or unprotected root systems. A lot of the damage that I have personally encountered has been due to low temperatures causing bark splitting. This type of damage is often difficult to diagnose because the effects are usually very delayed.

Yes, you read that right – snowman hands. When I started teaching food safety practices to children I wondered how to teach them about proper hand washing. We all know how important it is to thoroughly wash our hands before preparing food, after touching raw meat and poultry or any other potentially contaminated surface. We can easily explain to children (and adults!) that singing happy birthday twice, while scrubbing hands, equals the prescribed 10 to 15 seconds that we should do while washing. However, how do you explain how much soap to use to create a good lather?? The answer: snowman hands! Use enough soap that your hands look like a snowman’s hands after rubbing them together! I have found great success with this tip while teaching children (and now my own children) to wash their hands properly. And guess what – it takes a good 10 to 15 seconds of scrubbing soapy hands together to create those snowman hands! Bonus to the singing of happy birthday while washing hands! So next time you are washing your hands, use enough soap to create snowman hands. This will help prevent the spread of food-borne illness (and those nasty cold and flu bugs too!).

Evergreen trees and shrubs are prone to unsightly damage from winter storms. They can be splayed open like a blooming onion or flattened like a pancake by the weight of heavy snow or ice loads. Damaged shrubs sometimes resurrect themselves in a matter of days or weeks; other times, they require severe pruning and a long restoration period. Fortunately, diligent gardeners can take a few actions to prevent serious damage.

As temperatures dip down to freezing and below freezing, plants that are not acclimated will die back to the ground or ultimately die. Most tropical plants do not like drafts and thermometer readings below 40 °F. They don’t have enough antifreeze in their tissues, the water in their cells expand and cell walls burst.

These beets were injured by glyphosate overspray. Only the last 6 feet of 6 beds were affected.