Look after your plants in the snow

Snow is predicted and although the garden looks like a beautiful iced cake when covered in fresh white snow, some of the plants can suffer underneath their seemingly soft blanket. It's a good idea to have a quick walk round the garden and

uncover some of them by gently brushing or shaking snow off to prevent any damage from the weight.

GREEN FINGERS TIP: If you want to take photos to capture the perfect winter wonderland scene, do it before you shake off the snow!

Some plants seem particularly vulnerable. Tall bamboos can be literally horizontal, but once the snow is removed, everything seems to magically spring back to normal. Below you can see part of a shrubby conifer in my garden which was left horizontal by the weight of snow, but which recovered its form after I brushed most of it off. It might not recover as well if left for too long though, so get out there as soon as you can!

Conifer flattened by snow

It recovered after brushing snow off

Most plants will recover from being weighed down if it's not for too long. By all means leave the snow on the grass, alpines and ground cover plants, which won't be troubled by it, and then you can still enjoy the way it looks on the ground.

Smaller, rounder shrubs might not look as round as they were. Those such as Santolina chamaecyparissus (Cotton Lavender) and Hebe sunderlandii can remain slightly flattened and misshapen, but they will soon bounce back and look as if nothing has happened, even after being frozen for an entire week. But if you have any topiary or formal hedges of Lonicera nitida or Buxus sempervirens (Box), give them a bit of help to get through it.

                                             

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