As anyone with a watchful eye on area plants and trees can probably tell you, this past winter, with it’s extreme cold (Polar Vortex!!), really took it’s toll on many deciduous and evergreen bushes. In particular, the beautiful broadleaf evergreen, the boxwood, has been decimated!!
So many mature boxwood’s, that managed to survive for so many years, so many weather extreme’s, just could not pull through the brutally cold winter of 2018-19.
Although we can’t bring back the majority of stressed boxwood’s found today, we can learn from the experience and improve our chances for successful long-term growing of new and/or existing boxwood’s that survived last winter.
A few points to consider when growing boxwood’s in your landscape.
Encourage deep root growth by watering deeply, less often.
Keep your boxwood’s (soil/root zone) watered very well going into winter, before ground freezes.
Maintain a 2″+/- layer of organic water absorbing mulch around the base of your boxwood’s to further assist in retaining moisture (refresh as needed).
Be critical of the area you are planting/growing boxwood’s. If deicing material is routinely applied nearby, try to limit exposure whenever possible or simply plant further away from problematic areas. Salt (sodium chloride) dissolved in water, if concentrations are high enough, will contaminate the soil in adjacent run-off areas over time.
Install physical winter barriers/screens around your boxwood’s and other sensitive plants to keep deicing salt out of soil and to reduce moisture-robbing winter wind exposure (winter foliage desiccation).
If boxwood’s prove to be too sensitive for a particular area, try a different plant. Choose a plant that can tolerate the specific conditions of the site for best long term results.
Please be sure to contact Pacocha Landscaping Services, Inc. with any questions you may have or for further assistance. We would love to help anyway we can. Thank you for visiting our site and have a great day!
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