As the snow and ice retreat, it's a good idea to look around your garden, patio or balcony, size up the damage and figure out what needs to be done to fix the carnage.
Once the ground thaws, frost heaves can be healed by replanting any perennial plants with lifted and exposed roots. This is likely to be more of a problem in gardens closer to the sea.
That's because even though the Fraser Valley got the worst of the cold and wind, it also received deep snow cover that will have kept smaller plants in those gardens slightly cool, but also protected.
Exposure to heavy wet snow, ice and wind will be the main problem for trees and shrubs. The branches of columnar evergreens may sprawl open in gardens where snow hasn't been knocked away from their branches. These can be tied back into their original narrow shape with garden twine.
Broadleaf evergreens such as rhododendrons, pieris, daphnes and box may be flattened by the weight of wet snow or even broken. This happens when thawing is followed by re-freezing at night that turns snow on branches into ice.
Some gardeners try to rejoin broken branches using Velcro strips, soft cloth or splints and twine. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. Cutting out broken branches to new branches or buds is easier, quicker and usually brings better results.
Many vigorous shrubs that have been distorted out of their normal shapes and are suffering extensive dieback from cold can be given a hard pruning if necessary. These include Smoke Bush, Red Flowering Currant, abelia, mophead hydrangea and weigela. But you need to know that after these drastic cutbacks it can be a year before they flower again.
Gardeners who installed metal roofs may have discovered that avalanches of heavy snow sliding off slippery metal are extremely hard on woody plants (and anything else in the line of fire).
Ground-covers and perennials that die down in fall usually withstand dumps of snow from roofs. Even so, it's best to leave old stems and leaves on these perennials over winter to protect their central growth points. But trees and shrubs definitely need to be relocated to safer places.
Container gardeners will probably be checking how their containers fared through the wild weather. North or east-facing balconies and patios are usually harder hit than south or west-facing areas.
It helps if plants in pots are drawn back against the shelter of the building wall. Wrapping them with fabric (old towels or sheets etc.) can also help. Even hardy bulbs can have freezing problems if they're planted close to the edges of containers.
But the greatest safeguard for container gardeners is choosing plants that are two zones hardier than their local zone. Metro Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»is mainly in zone 7, merging into zone 8 in sheltered microclimates near the sea. The Fraser Valley is largely in the colder part of zone 7 merging into zone 6 further east.
News flash: The Alpine Garden Club of B.C.'s annual spring plant sale has changed its month and location. This year it will be held Saturday, April 7 from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Floral Hall at VanDusen Botanical Garden. The annual spring show will be held on the same date in the Van Dusen Cedar Room.
Anne Marrison is happy to answer garden questions. Send them to amarrison@ shaw.ca.
