by Rick Los, Director of Horticulture 

Spring Prelude 2010

For those of you who have had the pleasure of visiting our Spring Prelude display you must certainly realize how difficult it is to come up with new ideas to improve the display. Thankfully we have some pretty amazing staff  and  I am proud to say they have once again managed to produce a display that is without a doubt, the most interesting and beautiful version of Spring Prelude to date.    

This year’s version of the Spring Prelude includes some new fountains and water features as well as changes to the layout in order to accommodate the increasing demand as a venue for weddings. The layout will also be a little more photo friendly as there will be more opportunities to take photos in the various garden settings. I won’t give away too much as the best and only way to experience this display is to come see it for yourself.  
     
In the Garden

Before I move into the present, I was thinking about the extreme weather conditions of last December (2008) and the fact we had continuous snow cover at the Gardens for a record period. In fact all of Canada experienced a white Christmas with Victoria humbly receiving the distinction of having the deepest snow cover of any of the major Canadian cities.

Fortunately for us last year’s weather was a rare event, but the past few weeks have once again provided us with some abnormally cold and somewhat snowy weather conditions. Cold weather always seems to stimulate enquiries about the effect of snow and cold in our gardens so I thought this would be a good opportunity to try to explain how the snow and cold affects garden plants and how you should react if and when you notice winter injury.

First of all, snow for the most part is extremely beneficial as an insulator during periods of cold weather. Snow protects plants from severe freezing and fluctuations in temperature. Heavy, wet snow, which we are quite familiar with, can damage plants because of its sheer weight, but for the most part should be left alone on plants as attempting to remove it can do more harm than good (speaking from experience!) The exceptions I make to this rule are sheared evergreens such as boxwood and false cypress which can become severely damaged and deformed from heavy snow.  

Cold does not have much impact on plants considered hardy for your particular region as they have obtained a hardiness rating based partly on the climatic extremes for your region, but sometimes even the hardy plants can sustain injury during cold periods. To clarify this, injury during these periods is primarily caused by the drying out or desiccation of plant tissue rather than to the actual impact of the cold itself. It is also important to realize plants in a windy, exposed site are more susceptible to cold damage than those in protected locations.

Extreme cold may cause buds, branches and even roots to freeze which results in the break down of cell tissues. This is something to keep in mind with container plantings as the roots of the plantings do not have the same protection as they would were they planted in the ground.
    
It is a well known that evaporation from plants continues to take place at a slow rate throughout the winter and in order to survive the roots must continue to absorb water. If a sufficient supply of moisture cannot be maintained, the plant can become dehydrated to the point of either severe tissue die back or potentially death.

Other cold related damage may result in bark splitting which generally takes place on plants in sunny, exposed locations and when there are extreme fluctuations in daily temperatures. This isn’t a problem in our region, but can be a real problem in a place such as Calgary (Google “Chinook wind” if you want to find out about changeable winter weather.)    

So what can we do to prevent these potential problems? Use common sense: choose your plants and plant locations wisely, mulch tender plants, water plants – especially evergreens in dry locations (e.g. under eaves and in containers) in the fall and throughout the winter as weather permits; huddle containers in protected locations up against a wall; and don’t be too anxious to deal with winter damage until the weather warms up sufficiently. For the most part, cold damage does not show up on plants until the plants resume growth in the spring.

If you have any more questions regarding this subject you may wish to ask any one of our skilled gardeners on your next visit to The Gardens.