Liberate that Evergreen by Ruth Clausen

Having taken a walk around our neighborhood today after the first snowfall of the season, it is pitiful to see how some evergreens take such a beating with wet heavy snow. One’s instinct is to bash the snow off as soon as you can, but beating on an already stressed branch from above is trouble. Always brush snow off gently from below with a broom so that it falls away from the bush. This Norway spruce is in danger of losing a few branches.

Dwarf mounding evergreens, such as some Chamaecyparis and arborvitae tend to open up in the center under snow. Wearing garden gloves, protect them by winding soft twine round them from bottom to top, keeping the twine just tight enough for them to hold their shape. Snow then will fall off more easily. It is too late for this Tsuga occidentalis ‘Rheingold’.