Getting through an "Extreame Winter"

 

Magnolia Grandifloa 2/21/21

 

This year winter started off fairly "average" in the temperature department, we had really no big cool offs or huge warm-ups either. Snow wise however it was actually pretty snowy as it seemed like all the snows we did have which were infrequent came with high amounts each time like 6-12" in 3 or 4 storm spread throughout the season so we were on our way to one of the top snowiest winters ever recorded. THEN February arrived and the ball dropped, temperatures plummeted to the 10s and even below zero and it did rise again for 2 strait weeks. It went from "average" to extreme in just those two weeks according to the Midwest winter severity index.  It was one of the longest-lasting cold snap of this decade. 2 days didn't rise above zero and 11 nights nearly in a row were well below zero. It was part of the same cold snap that greatly effected parts of the deep south by Texas and Oklahoma. Lowest temperature seen was -18.F which was near the record low since the year 2000 which was -20. 

The winter damage is really showing on my experimental Magnolia Grandifloria this year most of the leaves have browned and its likely it will loose all of its leaves. The winter before this I got really lucky, with a maxed out low of -9 barely any leaves browned and the remained on the tree throughout the following summer and it even bloomed! My hopes is that the tree survived and it will leave back out in May and June.

 

Extreme Rabbit Feeding Damage

 The other sign of a harsh winter? Even though extra steps were taken with the fencing as you can see. At least a dozen of more of my shrubs were severely damaged by rabbit feeding. Unusually the snowcover isn't as persistent as it has been this month and the hungry rabbits have no where else to turn but the bark and twigs of shrubs. It's nice to see the rabbits remaining well fed but I'll say its proving pretty costly. Unfortunately these wont recover and will have to be replace. Sure they will try to grow back, but they will be the perfect size for more rabbit feeding next year and it will keep going in a vicious cycle. This isn't the first year either, so I'm going to rethink my landscaping choices going foreword for sure.

Snowdrops as of 2/20/21

 

How about a little good news now? The Snowdrops are showing again! I have to say how impressed of the insulating qualities of snowcover. These spent all that 2 week of below zero weather happily protected under the snow. The past 2 days have been in the lower to mid 30s re exposing these again. Next week when its in the 40s there really going to be happy. I've also see snowdrops blooming as well.

Winter burn free

More great news, Thuja is looking find and dandy! Sometimes Arborvitae can get winter-burn when the sun hits it during extreme cold spells especially when its un established and this being the first winter I will admit I had my concerns. However I checked it out real close yesterday and everything is looking good. It will be really nice to get some spring growth on this one to start filling out that hole from last year.