As a suburban or Main Line Philadelphia homeowner with a landscaped garden, you are naturally concerned about protecting your trees, plants and shrubs from frost and cold during the winter season. The effort to protect your landscaping starts when you purchase plants, being careful to select plants that are appropriate for our hardiness zone, which is zone 7a. Hardiness zones are also referred to as gardening zones, growing zones and plant zones.

Quoting plantmaps.com, the term hardiness zone, “… refers to defined geographic regions that can support specific plants, flowers and trees. The zones define a minimum range of temperatures that a plant or tree can survive safely in that zone.” Plants that are too fragile for the 7a zone should be grown in containers which can be moved indoors or to a greenhouse during the winter season.

As you endeavor to protect your Philadelphia area landscaping from winter frost and cold, it is very helpful for you to understand the micro-climates that exist within the bounds of your property. Fragile plants exposed to wind from all sides will be at risk, especially from cold north winds. The warmest spots in the garden are along south-facing walls. These warm spots provide protection to fragile Main Line and Suburban Philadelphia landscaping from frost and cold.

There are procedures you can follow which partially condition your plants and soil for cold weather.  Quoting sunset.com, “Taper off nitrogen feeding in late summer: actively growing plants are more susceptible to cold than are dormant or semi-dormant ones, so you don’t want to stimulate the production of new growth that won’t have time to mature before cold weather arrives.”

Soil should be moist as frost sets in, since dry soil holds and releases less heat. Warning signs for early fall or spring frost include still air, clear skies, and low temperature and humidity. Be prepared to move fragile plants to a protected location, or provide temporary shelter or coverings for at-risk plants.

For more information about methods for covering and sheltering your Main Line, suburban Philadelphia, Tri-State, Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, or Northern Delaware trees, shrubs and plants during the cold winter months, contact Steven T. Aardweg, A.P.L.D. , a Certified Landscape Designer and owner of Aardweg Landscaping of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.  Steve Aardweg has over 35 years of landscape design, installation and maintenance experience in the greater Philadelphia area. You may contact Aardweg Landscaping by telephone at 610.355.0703.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are you interested in a winter horticultural excursion? Even during the winter, Longwood Gardens continues to be a pleasant and interesting leisure destination.  Bulbs are growing in the four acres of greenhouses from January through the end of April. Children especially enjoy the Indoor Children’s Garden.  Quoting Longwoodgargens.org, “While we have an expanse of gardens outdoors, including a wildflower meadow, we have many acres of gardens within Conservatories. The Main Conservatory houses nearly 20 gardens and covers about four acres, and it is all inside. The Heritage Exhibit, located inside the Pierce-du Pont House, is also indoors.” Longwood Gardens’ Continuing Education Classes are in full swing throughout the winter and spring.

Photo Sources: Flickr-Fil-A1, Flickr-AdrianDC