Wow! It's May 12th and in a normal environment we would be admiring bedding plants placed around the patio and watching our vegetable transplants slowly acclimate to their new surroundings in your garden. But we live in Colorado where spring snowstorms seem to come out of nowhere and all of a sudden our gardens and landscapes are turned into 'plantsicles' under the weight of the snow. Driving into the CSU campus this morning I noticed that the damage on the west side of Fort Collins appears to be worse than the central or east side of town, although there is still plenty of damage to see.
I did make a few observations this morning on the damage that has occured:
- The trees that are damaged most heavily appear to be trees that are in full flower (crabapples especially seemed hard hit) or fully leafed out.
- Trees with a spreading habit rather than upright also seem to be harder hit.
- Trees that have not fully leafed out, such as Lindens, appear to have very little to no limb breakage.
- Trees with a pyramidal shape (some of the ornamental pears, etc.) also appear to have very little to no limb breakage.
The recommendation would be to get out and inspect your landscape as soon as feasible for any signs of breakage or damage. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/616-MatureTrees.html will provide information on when and how to prune trees, if needed, as well as providing information on when or if there is a need to hire a certified professional arborist. Here on campus this morning, the tree crews were already out pruning trees and cleaning up fallen branches. The road around the Oval was closed to traffic to allow crews to get the job done. The elms around campus have really taken a beating this season with the early fall snowstorm and now the late spring snowstorm. Hopefully all the damaged trees will survive in good shape. As always, if you have any questions, you can contact the Plant Diagnostic Clinic at CSU or contact your local County Extension Office for more information.
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