Why plants need moisture in the winter

This past week has brought us temperatures much colder than we've experienced in the last few years. 

How will our outdoor plants react? 

It's too early to make any predictions, but our plants have one fantastic thing going for all concerned. We did have good soil moisture around the roots of all our plants this past fall and so far this winter.

The No. 1 reason that our plants suffer winter damage is having those plants in dry soil.

That makes our plants even more vulnerable to cold damage, especially to our evergreens.

They need good moisture in their winter foliage to stay healthy and keep from drying out. It's also important to realize that all cold hardy plants produce their own anti-freeze, the amount produced varies with different plant varieties.

That is why plants are categorized by their hardiness in different weather zones. Our plants that are growing in the TriState have to be able to sustain low temperatures in the 5 to 10 degrees below zero or weather zones 5 and 6 according to the weather zones we live within. 

That's the very reason you don't walk down any streets locally that are lined with palm trees. 

If you selected plant varieties that are not cold hardy to zone 5 and 6, you and those plants are already in serious trouble.

Thank goodness that the vast majority of plants offered for sale in our little corner of the world are all cold hardy.

The biggest threat to our outdoor plants is a warm spell in late winter (February to early March) for a week or two and then the real cold weather returning. The warmer temperatures in late winter will tell our trees and shrubs to wake up and the return of the much colder weather will cause a lot of damage to those plants that start greening up for the spring. 

We can't do anything about that but file away this thought.  In all my years working with plants, I've seen some damaged, but mom nature has always risen to any weather condition and has done a very good job.