Mulch helps vegetation face up to winter’s heat and chill

This winter season has been up and down like a clown on a pogo stick. Do you have to fear about how dips within the polar vortex and 50-degree temperature swings will have an effect on your vegetation?

“In case you have the precise vegetation and you’re taking good care of them, most will be capable to deal with winter extremes,” mentioned Sharon Yiesla, plant information specialist within the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. “The vegetation probably to be broken are evergreens which will dry out.”

For vegetation, drought and chilly are winter’s main challenges. Chilly has quick bodily results: When the water in vegetation’ cells freezes, sharp-edged ice crystals slice open the cell partitions to allow them to’t maintain water. “That’s why your leftover annuals and vegetable vegetation go limp after the primary freeze,” Yiesla mentioned.

Crops which are really winter-hardy — nicely tailored to outlive chilly temperatures — have numerous defenses in opposition to this freezing. Many merely abandon their tender and susceptible components reminiscent of leaves and stalks each autumn. Solely protected components — roots insulated throughout the surrounding soil, wooden protected by bark, buds coated by bud scales, seeds with powerful coats — will stay by means of the winter. The tender inexperienced stems and leaves will likely be changed in spring.

Some plant tissues that should survive winter chilly, reminiscent of buds, endure chemical modifications in autumn to cut back the focus of water within the liquid of their cells. “It’s slightly like antifreeze,” Yiesla mentioned.

Winter in chilly areas can also be a time of drought, so far as vegetation are involved. Crops want water for nearly all of their life capabilities, and water that’s frozen to ice isn’t a lot use. “That’s another excuse so many timber drop their leaves in fall,” she mentioned. “When there’s no liquid water for photosynthesis, there’s not a lot level in conserving tens of hundreds of little photo voltaic collectors fluttering in your branches.”

Most winter-hardy vegetation keep away from these hazards by coming into dormancy, a sleeplike state the place not a lot occurs till spring. Not a lot can harm dormant vegetation.

The exceptions are evergreens that preserve their leaves in winter, reminiscent of spruces, yews and boxwoods. Though they do decelerate, evergreens by no means are fully dormant. “They preserve water of their tissues and their leaves will nonetheless photosynthesize when it’s heat sufficient,” she mentioned.

Since evergreens comprise water, they’ll dry out. “Chilly air is dryer than heat air, so a bitter chilly night time can actually suck moisture out of them,” Yiesla mentioned.

There’s not a lot you are able to do about evergreens’ publicity to chilly outside air, other than watering them nicely in autumn. You received’t even see the injury till spring. However you possibly can defend the vegetation’ roots down within the soil from their worst winter enemy: heat.

“With our changeable climate, the largest menace to many vegetation in January and February is a thaw,” Yiesla mentioned. A short spell of temperatures within the 50s or extra might heat up the soil sufficient to trick vegetation into considering spring is right here, so they arrive out of dormancy. In the event that they sprout or their buds open, that new development will likely be killed by the subsequent sudden drop in temperature.

To keep away from that, preserve the soil cool with insulation. Snow is a wonderful insulator as a result of it’s principally air. However the Chicago space, with its risky climate, not often retains a blanket of snow all winter.

“Probably the most dependable insulation is mulch,” Yiesla mentioned. “A layer of useless plant matter, whether or not it’s fallen leaves, bought mulch, or compost, will assist defend roots in opposition to these difficult thaws.”

For tree and plant recommendation, contact the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum (630-719-2424, mortonarb.org/plant-clinic, or [email protected]). Beth Botts is a employees author on the Arboretum.