Tree Maintenance After Early & Late Freezes

This past winter was especially hard on the trees and shrubs in Northern Colorado. We had an early cold snap, a heavy winter and a second late, spring cold snap that affected our plants so much, some perennials aren’t even coming back this year.

Those two cold snaps led to significant freeze damage to our trees and shrubs as they began to emerge from dormancy. The second freeze happened when a lot of deciduous trees and shrubs were starting to push out their leaves for the year, and brought with it a significant amount of heavy snow.

“When trees and shrubs experience a weather event like this at such a critical time, they are forced to expend double the energy to cover their health,” says the Davey Tree Expert Company.

Trees and shrubs most affected by the recent freeze are those that were newly transplanted – within the last year an up to about five years of age. These plants have had significant death/dieback, though the damage has been very haphazard: one plant may have been significantly impacted while the plat next to it shows no signs of dieback.

“Most arborvitae, pines and spruce are having good success at pushing out their new growth for the year and should recover,” Davey says. “Deciduous trees and shrubs will require a qualified person to determine whether the tree is salvageable or not.”

If you’d like a free consultation about your landscape plants and the effects of the weather this past season, we’d be happy to come over and perform an evaluation. Just give us a call!