Protect Your Hamptons Landscape Investment from Winter’s Harsh Northeast Storms

Winter storms in the Northeast can be particularly devastating to landscapes, with heavy snow loads, ice accumulation, and brutal winds that can damage or destroy years of careful landscaping investment. For homeowners in Suffolk County and the Hamptons region, understanding how to properly protect gardens and trees during these harsh conditions isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about preserving property value and ensuring your outdoor spaces survive to thrive another season.

Understanding Winter’s Threats to Your Landscape

Northeast winter storms present multiple challenges that can wreak havoc on even well-established landscapes. The weight of snow and ice can break branches, and heavy snow and ice storms cause damage by bending and breaking branches. Drying winter winds are especially damaging to evergreens, and in exposed, windy areas, erecting a windbreak helps prevent damage, as can wrapping shrubs with burlap or easy-to-use shrub wraps.

Extreme winter conditions such as ice storms, wind and prolonged sub-zero temperatures can cause significant damage, as wind can dry out plants, especially evergreens. Additionally, salt used for deicing streets, sidewalks and parking lots is harmful to landscape plants, and can cause or aggravate winter injury and dieback of trees and shrubs through salt runoff from roads and salt spray from traffic and snowplows.

Pre-Winter Preparation: Your First Line of Defense

The key to successful winter landscape protection begins long before the first snowflake falls. Proper care during the growing season and right up through the fall is a crucial part of keeping evergreens alive through the winter, as providing adequate water is essential to keep plants from suffering from stress, since healthy plants are much better prepared to survive the winter.

Water plants thoroughly throughout fall until the ground freezes; make sure the water penetrates 12″ to 18″ deep to reach the root zone. This deep watering is particularly important because roots do not become dormant in the winter as quickly as stems, branches and buds, and roots are less hardy than stems, with roots of most trees and shrubs that grow in Minnesota dying at temperatures at or below 0 and up to 10 degrees F.

Since there is no guarantee of adequate snow cover, mulching trees and shrubs (especially those that have been newly planted) becomes very important, with the aim to apply at least two inches of woodchips or straw over the root zone, taking care not to pile mulch against trunks.

Strategic Plant Placement and Physical Protection

For new plantings or when relocating existing plants, strategic positioning can significantly reduce winter damage. Plant evergreens such as yew, hemlock, and arborvitae on north and northeast sides of buildings or in areas protected from wind and winter sun. When planting new shrubs, place sensitive species in locations sheltered from prevailing winds and direct winter sun, including the north, northeast and east sides of buildings, structures or windbreaks.

Physical barriers provide excellent protection during severe weather events. Construct a barrier of burlap or similar material on the south, southwest, and windward sides of evergreens, and if a plant has exhibited injury on all sides, surround it with a barrier, but leave the top open to allow for some air and light penetration. Tie up narrow, upright, evergreens with multiple leaders to prevent breakage and splaying by ringing the outside of the plant with rope or narrow strips of cloth or tie the main leaders together high up inside the shrubs, being sure to remove the binding after the snow has melted.

Snow and Ice Management

When storms hit, prompt action can prevent significant damage. If branches are bending under the weight of a heavy snowfall, gently remove some of the snow, however, don’t try to remove ice after an ice storm; you’re likely to cause more harm than good. Remove snow regularly, especially after every two inches of accumulation, and gently remove snow with a broom.

Professional services become essential for comprehensive winter protection. For homeowners in the Hamptons and Suffolk County area, reliable winter services northwest harbor providers can offer the expertise and equipment necessary to protect valuable landscape investments throughout the harsh Northeast winter season.

Post-Storm Recovery and Assessment

After severe weather events, careful assessment and proper recovery techniques are crucial. Look for any damaged or broken branches that need pruning and give them a clean cut right above a bud or leaf node. When determining when to hire an arborist, never cut limbs tangled in power lines – call the power company instead, and anytime removing a branch requires a ladder or a chainsaw, you should strongly consider hiring a tree care professional to do the job.

Help trees and shrubs recover from storm damage by applying a slow-release or organic fertilizer in spring (March-April) and water recovering trees and shrubs during dry spells this summer and fall.

Long-Term Landscape Resilience

Building a winter-resilient landscape requires selecting appropriate plant materials and maintaining them properly. Avoid planting weak wooded trees that are more likely to be damaged in wind, snow, and ice including Leyland cypress, lacebark elm, Bradford pear, water oak, silver maple, green ash, willow, and pecan, and replace damaged trees with ones more resistant to wind and ice damage including crape myrtle, bald cypress, hickory, ironwood, ginkgo, and white oak.

Professional landscaping companies like Fernando’s Home Improvements understand the unique challenges of Northeast winters. Twenty years of working in Suffolk County has taught them exactly what survives and what doesn’t, as most landscape failures happen because designers don’t understand our specific soil conditions, deer pressure, and coastal exposure.

By implementing these comprehensive winter protection strategies, homeowners can significantly reduce storm damage and ensure their landscape investments continue to enhance property value and beauty year after year. Remember, healthy plants are more likely to get through winter unscathed, as a plant that has struggled during the growing season, whether due to insufficient sunlight, water or nutrients, or heavy damage from insects or disease, will enter winter in a vulnerable state.