Mopping up after “Mega-Storm 2008” 

First off let me say a belated “Happy New Year” to all my readers.  I hope you had a pleasant holiday break and a festive New Year and were able to get out of your driveway.  I was fortunate to have all my children at home for the first time in at least 5 years so it was truly a special time for me.  I got to meet Number 2 son’s (who is now 30 years old) girl friend from Chicago for the first time and Number 3 son came home from being in Germany since May of 2007 (he too has a girl friend but she lives in Germany).  The rest of my kids and Pauline’s live in the area so we see them more often but it sure was fun to have them all around for a couple of weeks.  And with 6 grandkids there was never a dull moment.  Now the house seems awfully quiet but you know, that’s kind of nice too!  I think the best part about being a grand parent may be being able to send everyone home at the end of the day.

Now, getting back to the issues at hand, it should have been no surprise that 2008 would wrap itself up with a weather event like “Mega-Storm 2008”.  After all, the whole bloody year was dominated by the weather.  I recall giving a lecture at the Comcast Arena back in April and watching it snow like crazy outside on the streets of Everett.  That surely was a harbinger of things to come.  The rest of the year followed suit with a cold spring and summer but very nice fall and then blammy, “let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”.

Over the course of a couple weeks I think we received 12-18 inches of snow.  Others up north in the Arlington area got dumped on with 30-36 inches.  Several times I went out to sweep it off the greenhouses and brush it off my evergreens.  I was fortunate not to have any structural damage but now that it has all melted I am seeing some broken limbs on a few of my shrubs.  Many of my plants that were almost flat on the ground from the weight of the snow have now bounced back and look almost normal.  I also had the presence of mind to remove several of my pots early on that contained what I considered to be marginal varieties of plants in them and place them in a greenhouse that while not heated was at least out of the snow and probably 5-10 degrees warmer than outside.  And they are all looking fine at this point. 

The real question for us now is: “What is alive or dead and what should I do about it”.  My first thought would be: DON’T PANIC.  What ever is dead is only going to get deader and no amount of pruning or transplanting is going to change that.  What ever is only half dead will either become all dead or it will start to recover as spring arrives.  As I survey my yard I don’t see a lot of death and destruction.  We can thank the snow cover for most of that.  While the weight of snow can cause limbs to bend and ultimately break, the insulative qualities of snow are a huge asset for gardeners.  So when the mercury dropped down to 7 degrees on December 20 (and reportedly -6 in Arlington) be thankful that there was still snow all over the damn place.  It might have been the difference between life and death for a lot of plants.

For the month of February I would proceed with caution.  Prune out any broken limbs in your shrubs and trees and if we get another snow try and be proactive by knocking it off the limbs before it gets too deep.  If your shrubs haven’t returned to their full upright position then you might try helping them along with a stake or two and some twine.  I have noticed severe burn on Nandina, Cistus and Escallonia.  These broadleaf evergreens will need to be cut back hard but wait until you see signs on new growth in the spring and cut just above the new growth points.  It might take two seasons to restore them back to their original condition but it can be done.

So the take home message here is to take stock this month and then start taking action next month and into March.  Be patient and don’t panic.