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Avoid These Winter Landscape Hazards

Landscaped home with snow showing possible winter landscape hazards

Avoid These Winter Landscape Hazards

During the winter, few things are more breathtaking than a fresh blanket of snow covering your trees and lawn. But underneath that layer of white, there is potential damage taking place to your landscape in the form of fractured grass, snow mold, and dormant grass. We’ve got a few solutions to help protect your landscaping from these winter landscape hazards when the cold weather hits to help minimize damage and keep your yard looking its best.

Fractured Grass

grass covered with frost can result in winter landscape hazards called fractured grass

Winter Landscape Hazard: When frosts settles on a lawn, the grass blades can freeze. Frozen grass is brittle and weak, making it susceptible to damage from foot traffic in your yard. Any activity on the lawn while it is frosty will “break” the grass blade and damage the lawn. It will recover, but may not fully bounce back until the following spring.

Solution: Avoid walking through your lawn as much as possible during the winter months to avoid any major damage. Also, consider watering the grass the night before a frost. A deep watering allows the moisture to evaporate slowly overnight, creating heat and friction around the grass blades. As the air temperature drops during the night, this evaporative heat process prevents the grass from freezing.

Snow Mold

Winter Landscape Hazard: Snow mold is a type of fungal disease that develops under snow cover. When spring arrives and the snow is long gone, white, pink, or gray patches may be visible on the grass. These are the result of moisture left by melting snow and ice in areas where they accumulated. 

Solution: Once the snow has stopped falling, the fort has been built, and “Frosty” has met the family, remember to unpile any areas of accumulated snow to expose the grass. Also keep in mind lawns that are properly fertilized prior to winter will fare best against snow mold. 

Dormant Grass

Winter Landscape Hazard: As the temperature cools, your grass may begin to lose some of its green, vibrant colors and turn slightly brown. The color changes because the winter weather sends your grass into dormancy. Grass goes dormant when temperature or moisture levels drop below a certain level for an extended period of time. Dormancy allows the plant to cut down on energy use and save it for next spring. 

Solution: To avoid the unsightly brown patches, be sure to plant your grass seeds before the snowfall begins to prevent the snow from halting seed germination of the grass. Seeding eliminates bald spots in your yard and strengthens your lawn for the spring.

Let Us Help You with Winter Landscape Hazards

Read how a landscape architect can help you this winter.

For more winter landscape tips, click here.

Your landscaping requires work to look and perform its best. Providing year-round maintenance allows it to thrive, creating a beautiful oasis for you and your family to enjoy through every season.

If you need help with your landscaping needs, consider the professionals at Walnut Ridge Landscape & Design. Click here to see what we can do for you or contact us at 812-289-6380.