Snow and the plants!

Hello

Being new to gardening, I wondered how the snow would effecy my plants. I have a lot of winter pansies violas e.t.c in barrels and a hanging basket....will the 50cm of snow on these kill the plants if its there for a while? Do I need to go and clear it off? Also, I have some winter plants in some tubs under my car port which are protected from snow but have still frozen, the violas have dropped and I cant water the plants as the soil seems frozen

Thank you

 

Hello Hanna. I've got tubs of pansies and violas out there too and there's a foot of snow on top of them.
I'm hoping they wii be allright.
Snow provides good insulation from frost, so don't take it off. The frost would be much more damaging.
And no need to water. In very cold conditions the drier the compost is the better.
I hope your plants will be allright - and mine. We can only wait and see. Good luck.

 

I agree the snow is a good inslation . Real problem with containers is probably more with the pots freezing inwardly and the longer the tempretures stay low the more this occurs .lagging the containers does help ,or try to put them in more sheltered places .
Good idea not to buy new outdoor potted plants this weather and let the nurseries run the risk of weather damage ..

Dave

 

The recent snow will have been like a fleece jacket to the plants you describe.

 

hello.

thanks for all your replies. they seem to have survied. although a lot of shrubs in the garden and mini conifers havent as the weight of the snow has snapped many branches e.t.c so they seem to have taken most of the brunt of it!

 

Hi Hanna, the snow has melted off my pansy pots and they look just fine - as do my winter veggies, kale, PSB, leeks etc.
Wherabouts are you. If you go into your pfofile you can enter a location so that we can see.

 

Now the snow has gone (for the moment) some of my evergreen shrubs have gone brown in places.
Do i need to cut the brown leaves/stems or leave til spring and see what happens?
One's a Hebe but no idea what the other broad leaf bush is. Wil do a photo for the ID section some time.

Cheers
D

 

Hi Exlabman, I would leave the brown leaves etc alone. The plants will shed them naturally and , hopefully, come spring the new growth will appear. You can prune out any dead branches then.
About your Hebe, they are not all fully hardy and can suffer or sucumb in a bad winter. Don't give up on them too soon. Last year I had a lovely hebe (shrub type) wich looked absolutely dead at the end of a hard winter. I was going to have it out but decided to prune it and see what happened. It made a full recovery. It didn't flower but was a good looking shrub. I had hopes for it for next year but the winter so far has been awful. I'll just have to wait and see.