Snow won't kill your vegetation

By: By Rex Springston | Media General News Service
Published: March 05, 2009

If your bush drooped under the snow, or your daffodils got covered, don't despair.

In most cases, any harm to plants and trees from this week's winter storm will be short-lived, experts say.

Record cold temperatures might kill those flowers and buds and knock out some spring color. But that wouldn't hurt the trees, said Tom Brinda, assistant director of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

Some trees, such as star magnolias, can lose buds to the cold and still produce flowers later with other buds, Brinda said.

Snow from the Sunday-to-Monday storm provided an insulating blanket for bulbs and blooming daffodils.

"They probably didn't even notice it was 10 degrees" yesterday morning, Brinda said.

That was a record low for the date, as was the 11 degrees on Tuesday.

Butch Gaddy, president of Colesville Nursery in Ashland, said snow can cause some bushes, tree limbs and plants to "droop so badly they look like they are ruined."

But if you allow the snow to melt away, Gaddy said, "Most of them will pop right back."

Without the insulating snow, nursery workers would have had to wrap outdoor plants such as azaleas in burlap.

"For the most part, the snow was a help — except for business," Gaddy said. "I don't think we've had a customer in three days."