October Snowstorm

October Snow by Elizabeth Thomsen

I don’t know about my readers who live on the east coast, but I am still reeling over the snowstorm we just had this October. In October!!!!  There was never a snowstorm in this part of the country in October that I can recall- and I won’t tell you how many years I can recall.

As a child when my class sang the Thanksgiving song “Over the River and Through the Woods” and came to the lines,

“The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh
through the white and drifted snow.”

we would giggle.  Snow in November, at Thanksgiving? It had never happened where we lived in New Jersey. It almost seemed silly to sing this song.  And here, in 2011, was snow in October. Unheard of.

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Protecting Plants from Snow and Ice in the Winter

Ice Tree by Spiritwoman1

There are many websites about how to plan to prevent damage to trees in winter snow or ice storms.  See here, for example.   These articles tell one how to pick strong trees that won’t be as prone to winter breakage and how to wrap trees or shrubs to try to protect these plants from damage.

But no one expected such a harsh winter as we are having this year and no one predicted the amount of snow. When I checked the Farmer’s Almanac in 2010, they predicted a rather normal winter. They have an updated version if you want to see what they think will happen for the rest of the winter.  See here.  So at this stage of winter, no one can really tell you what damage your shrubs and trees will suffer because of the amount of snow we have had. We will all have to wait to see how our plants survive.

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