Trees and Shrubs Prep for Cooler Temps

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Trees and shrubs are preparing for the shorter days and cooler temperatures by dropping leaves from those plants that are deciduous or by storing up sugars and other products in the leaves, stems and roots to make them more cold hardy. An interesting experiment you might try sometime is putting two cups of water in the freezer, one with just water and in the other one add a couple tablespoons of salt and stir it up until the salt is dissolved in the water. Then, see which one freezes first. Spoiler alert the one with no salt should freeze first. Trees and shrubs protect themselves from cold temperatures by storing sugars and nutrients in the different plant parts, so when the temperature drops, the water in the cells won’t freeze and burst the cell walls.

For this reason, it’s best to wait until the plant is fully dormant before pruning. They should be fully dormant before the first frost, but if at all possible wait until Thanksgiving weekend to do the pruning. Shaping up the hedges should be similar to the weekly haircut, there is no need to remove a whole lot, but smooth out the rough edges. If the plant needs to be cut back hard or rejuvenated because it has grown out of bounds, this type of pruning should wait until late February or March, just before new growth appears on the plants.