Home page

Articles

What do you do to help trough plantings make it through the winter? Here are a few tips from Adirondack Chapter members.

“I leave mine out, and hope the winter sends snow,” says George Erdman, Endicott, N.Y. “When the snow looks like it's kind of thin, I may shovel some more on top, just to keep things covered and protected from the sun. I also put wire over some to thwart the deer.”

Protection from sun and drying winds is important, agrees David Mitchell, Ithaca, N.Y. “I leave my troughs outside in the snow, but move them behind the cold frame out of the winter sun and winds,” he says. “My Dryas octopetala in the trough out-lived the one I had in my rock garden. So just having a trough sometimes is the only way I can keep certain plants.”

In snowy Syracuse, John Gilrein makes the most of the cover, sometimes from November through March. He relocates troughs raised on rocks to ground level, and shovels snow around them if the snow isn’t deep. “After the troughs are well covered in snow, I forget them for a while,” he says. “This winter has been a little tougher with some single-digit temperatures without snow.”

Carol Eichler, Ithaca, N.Y., places her troughs in a sheltered, 12-foot-wide spot between her house and garage. “There, they are exposed to snow but not much sun,” she says. “I do keep an eye on thaw days for heaving. And lacking snow, check moisture content and make sure there's no standing water on the surface. I don't seem to loose plants when there's been snow pack – more when we lack snow and get a sudden cold spell.

“One mistake I made was to bury the troughs one year,” she adds. “Some of them fell apart.”

Have more ideas? Email them to Craig Cramer at cdcramer@twcny.rr.com