We were very fortunate to only lose one small branch from my large Rhododendron out front.
When we have heavy snow fall, it can wreak havoc in the gardens. With prolonged snowfall, the snow accumulates on trees and bushes. With enough snow they can become weighed down very easily. Here you can see two pine trees that have fallen over under the weight of the snow. In this storm we had about ten inches of wet snow. The wet snow tends to stick to the trees and if the sun does not come out right away to melt it, it can kill a tree by the extra weight causing branches or the trunk to snap off.
This tree is just about on the ground under the weight of the snow.
I am trying to be vigilant this winter to help minimize the damage done in the gardens. Right after this particular storm I got right outside to help these trees. I use a broom and shake the snow off the branches by gently tapping them with the end of the broom. You just need to remember a couple of things in this process. If you work from the bottom branches up you end up having to do the lower ones twice, as the snow from the upper branches wants to stay on the lower ones. So start from the top.
If you are working on a tree with branches over your head, remember to not stand right under the branches. If you do, you will get buried under the snow you shake off!!!
Don't wait too long to get the snow off. If the snow stays on long enough the weight will break the branch and could destroy the entire tree. as with these trees, if you get the snow off right away they have a great chance of springing right back to their original stance.
You can see from this photo that both of these trees got right back to their upright stance within just a few days.
Most of the branches of this other tree are struggling to keep from being snapped to the ground.
And this is the after photo.
In my next post I will document what can happen if you do not get to the tree soon enough.
