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No doubt about it…when
it snows, some folks love it, but most don’t. But if you ask an outdoor
plant how they feel about snow, they’ll tell you for the most part, they
love it!
With the exception of
wet heavy snow pulling on branches and causing limbs to break, for the most
part, snow fall is a good thing for our outdoor plants and the landscape.
Now, one major benefit
of a good snow cover is its ability to insulate the soil and low parts of
the plants from extremely cold temperatures and tough biting winds. At the
same time, snow also acts as a moderator of soil temperature fluctuations.
Generally speaking,
temperatures beneath a layer of snow can increase about 2 degrees for each
inch accumulation. And, being the soil gives off heat, it can get held up
below the layer of snow, again keeping the temperatures at soil surface and
around the plants lower limbs a slight bit warmer, and this can be very
important when the outside temperatures are extremely cold.
Snowfall also provides
much needed winter moisture to our landscape plants, especially those
evergreens, which will help reduce winter burn or winter damages. Again, as
a general rule of thumb, 10 inches of snow equals about 1 inch of rainfall,
depending on crystal structure, wind speed and temperatures. But again,
snow fall is a benefit to our landscape, adding moisture back to the soil,
and back to our water supply.
A couple more positive
notes about snowfall…falling snow is also an excellent purifier of the air,
as far as I’m concerned, it just looks good. Snowfall makes winter
complete. So the next time it starts snowing, don’t dwell on the traffic
mess it can create…think about the good it does for our plants, our
landscape, our water supply, and the air we breathe. |
