Right plant, right place
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – With spring creping up after a brutal winter surge, you might be thinking about replanting some of those shrubs.
Jared Weaver, the arborist for the city of Bowling Green said when it comes to pruning, you might want to wait. In his interview with News 40, he would encourage everyone to take the city’s approach; just wait till spring and see how far the dieback is.
When your trees are concerned, Weaver said best practice is to just nick some of the bark with your thumb or a knife, particularly the smaller twigs to see if they’re still green underneath which would indicate life. “You don’t want t go in on the tree two or three times, it’s better to wait till the spring.”
And when trying to handle your plants, Weaver did say you can insulate them a bit with burlap wrapped around and then stuffed with some straw. Of course there’s always the old Reynolds wrap method too. But the est advice Weaver said he could give was to “plant the right tree for the right place. As far as the weather is concerned, you want to plant a that has adapted to zone 6.”
What does that mean, right? Well, the USDA puts out a map supported by 10 years of weather data to help growers with their various plants numbered 1 through 13. These zones correspond with temperature, telling you how cold it can get before your plant dies out. But it’s not an ironclad thing. Even if your plants or trees are adapted for Kentucky climate, Christmas weekend was a bit out of the ordinary. There’s not much you can do with 3 straight days of subzero temperatures but planting the right greenery can give you the best chance.
