1. Take all Containers and Potted Plants Inside

If you have any containers still sitting outside, bring them in now. If you have a sunny perennial plantings that could benefit from afternoon sun, find a room, even a picture window, that the plant can set in. For shady plants, you can put them in a dark room, or even a shed or garage, and they should do just fine. The type of plant will depend on what temperature it will need. Some will be OK with freezing temperatures, but others will die if they get below 50 degrees. If you have a question on your plants and how to care for them over winter, just call us. Make sure to keep the soil moist (not saturated) and you’ll have container plants once again in springtime.

Make sure your trees are trimmed before the ice hits!

2. Trim Trees Away from Power Lines

Tree limbs are a danger when there is snow and ice. Before this precipitation hits, trim your trees (hire a professional for your large trees) that are hanging near any power lines, or your home. The weight of frozen ice and snow on limbs causes them to break – cutting your power. Reduce this risk by trimming your limbs. (This can also get you some extra firewood for winter!)

3. Prune your Bushes and Shrubs

The ideal time to prune depends on the plants. Any spring-blooming shrub should NOT be pruned until after blooming is done. However, any plants that bloom in summertime can be pruned now, when they are dormant. Evergreens can be trimmed anytime of the year. If you have ornamental grass plants, I’d recommend you NOT cut them back until early March. They will protect base plants throughout the winter.

4. Pick up all leaves

If you’re looking for a wintertime activity for your landscaping, consider raking up more leaves. If you have any leaves that are still down, and especially piled on grassy areas, they need to be picked up and bagged. If left sitting atop your grass, leaves can kill the lawn over winter.

5. Blow Out your Irrigation Systems

Sprinkler systems are a true luxury and stress-reliever … until they bust open because of frozen pipes. Make sure to blow out you irrigation systems so that any water isn’t sitting in there when freezing temperatures hit. If you have a backyard fish pond, make sure there’s an air hole open for the fish if it ices over. Last, if you have a garden hose attached to your outdoor spout, remove it so that it doesn’t freeze over.

If you have questions, and especially if you need help determining how to care for your plants during winter, give us a call.

Watering your grass until the temperatures drops below freezing continue to build and preserve the root system. It promotes a healthier and greener lawn that springs to life much quicker when the snow and ice melt away. This is especially important if you have young seedling grass.

So unless you are getting plenty of rainfall, don’t pack up your sprinkler and hoses just yet and you will see the rewards next year.

If you have just enough leaves on your lawn to where you can still see the grass, you can use a mulching lawn mower to just work the leaves right into your lawn. One exception to this is if you had a late summer seeding in your yard. In that case, you will need to carefully rake up all of the leaves and remove them. This is especially important so that you can continue to water the seedling grass.

If you have so many leaves in your yard that you cannot see the grass in most places, you will want to rake up the leaves. This many leaves will damage grass if mulched into the lawn. You may consider hiring a lawn service that has machines that pick up the leaves, unless you just want to enjoy these last few beautiful days of fall and don’t mind a little yard work.

If you want to put those leaves to good use, you can rake them into piles and use the mulching feature on a leaf blower which sucks up the leaves and mulches them at the same time. Once you have collected your mulched leaves, spread them in and around the plants in your flower beds.