Tips for winter care of trees and shrubs
If your plants get salt spray from the road, burlap may help, but wrap them with a double layer, not a single layer. To avoid having to cover your evergreens, don’t plant them near a road that gets salted, or plant salt-tolerant species such as junipers.
To help preserve moisture, cover the root area of evergreens and broadleaf evergreens with a three-inch thick layer of leaf or bark mulch.
Protect upright evergreen junipers and cedars from breakage due to ice and snow by wrapping branches with heavy string or mesh covers sold for this purpose. Once fastened into place, you’ll hardly see the string or mesh.
Protect young trees by putting plastic tree guards around the bottom of their trunks to prevent damage from gnawers such as rabbits and mice. Make sure the tree guards go high enough – over the snow line. Always remove them in the spring because it looks better and you don’t have the problem of the guards trapping moisture against the bark in the summer and attracting insects.
If rabbits are a big problem in your area, winter care of trees and shrubs should include putting chicken wire cages around the plants they find most tasty.
Prevent rabbit and rodent damage with a pest repellent spray that you apply on lower trunks, branches and stems. Such products generally have to be reapplied after wet weather
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