Rejuvenate your Stressed Landscape

In the last couple of weeks we’ve noticed a significant amount of winter burn and frost damage to a wide variety of plants around the Denver Metro area. Many Lilacs have brown and distorted leaf tissue. Just about every Crabapple we walk past has more dead tissue than nice new green growth. Many shrubs that are typically very hardy are showing severe stress and decline. Viburnums, Barberry, and Privet are some of the hardiest shrubs in Colorado, yet many we have examined have large amounts of dead leaf tissue and a few have died completely.

So what can be done to help get your landscape plants through yet another period of stress?

Under most circumstances, the best possible option is to apply a high quality, slow release fertilizer. This will supply the plants with nutrients to allow a new flush of growth to be produced. There are a few exceptions to applying fertilizer. Fertilizer should be used cautiously for trees that have disease infections such as fireblight, or insect infestations of various scale insects. Trees experiencing these situations can become more stressed as the excess nitrogen from the fertilizer will increase the severity of the disease problem or insect infestation.

If you are concerned about damage to your plants caused by the extreme weather conditions in April, please give us a call and one of our Certified Arborists will meet with you to evaluate your situation.