Allison Moyer, University of Richmond’s associate director of landscape services and horticulture, can provide tips to help limit the effects of snow and ice on your property’s landscape:
- Ice is by far worse than a fluffy snow. Be careful! Trees and shrubs can be broken or damaged by ice so watch where you park.
- When dealing with snow and ice on your landscape be mindful of de-icing agents and where you pile your snow when clearing sidewalks and driveways. Many de-icing agents like salt can damage your plants and possibly kill them.
- Be aware of where you are piling snow and where you are throwing your salt so that when your plants drink up that excess water they are not drinking salt.
- Protect boxwoods and other sensitive shrubs from heavy wet snows. Wet heavy snows can break apart shrubs and unlike hollies, some shrubs (ex: boxwoods) are very slow growers and cannot repair the damage quickly. A couple of ways to prevent this from happening is to a tarp over the shrub prior to snow and then pulling it off or broom off the shrubs during the storm every couple of hours so the full weight of the snow never builds up.
- In the fall, add an extra layer of mulch over perennials so they are more protected from the harsh winter weather.
To request an interview, contact director of media and public relations
Sunni Brown at
sbrown5@richmond.edu.
