How to Identify and Fix Winter Damage to Trees, Shrubs, & Grass on Commercial Properties

Winter can be tough on your landscaping. 
Icy wind. Hungry deer. Ice melt products. Plow damage
Your commercial landscape might need some help come spring.

How to manage winter damage to trees and shrubs? How to fix winter damaged grass? Balancing soil pH then reseeding can repair salt-damaged lawns. But proactive prevention is key. 

Level Green Landscaping account manager Jesse Ware walks us through the main winter landscaping damage, what to do about it, and how proactive attention can often help prevent it. 

Let’s learn more about managing winter landscape damage, including:

Managing Winter Damage to Trees and Shrubs

Winter Damage to Trees: Broken Branches

Hungry Critters Can Damage Trees and Shrubs 

Winter Burn On Evergreens

How to Fix Winter-Damaged Grass 

Proper Use of Ice Melt is Key 

Use Snow Stakes to Help Avoid Winter Lawn Damage from Plows

Managing Winter Damage to Trees and Shrubs

Snow plows have to push the snow somewhere, and without a plan in place, that snow can get shoved into shrubs that line parking lots, Ware says. 

“That’s a lot of weight and force coming across the plant,” he says. 

Help prevent winter shrub damage by making plans ahead of time that include designating safe places on your property to pile snow.

It should be part of a thorough pre-season walkthrough with your snow removal company. 

They should walk your property with you, taking careful notes. Level Green account managers gather important information to help us prepare detailed overhead site maps of your property. Our snow and ice management crews use these maps as they work to quickly and efficiently clear your property — including piling snow in safe places designated ahead of time. 

“You can also replace the shrubs with perennials or grasses that won’t  be damaged by the snow,” Ware suggests.

Level Green snow removal crews are diligent about protecting your trees and shrubs from winter damage.

We try not to pile too much snow on shrubs, which can break their branches and we try to avoid piling too much snow around trees on parking lot islands, which can damage their bark. But if plant damage occurs, we’ll replace them with new plants, as outlined by our plant warranties. 

Winter Damage to Trees: Broken Branches

Snow, ice and wind can weaken tree branches. 

“Ice can break off tree branches, and that becomes a safety issue,” Ware says. “If the branch falls, what will it fall on? They’re heavy — they can do a lot of damage.”

Sometimes a branch suffers winter tree damage, but hasn’t broken off.  Dangling branches aren’t just unsightly — they’re a safety hazard, at risk of crashing to the ground at any time.

 “My job is to see those possible problems ahead of time,” Ware says.

It’s important to prune and thin tree branches before winter, he says, so remaining branches are sturdy enough to hold up to winter stress. 

If you have trees that pose a risk factor, we let you know throughout the year, so we can stay on top of overhead safety concerns. 

Hungry Critters Can Damage Trees and Shrubs 

Mice, rabbits, voles and deer can nibble their way through your landscape all winter, causing severe damage. They munch on tender twigs, bark and foliage, which can damage or kill shrubs and trees.

“The biggest thing is deer damage,” Ware says. “In the summer they have plenty to eat in the woods, but in the winter they have nothing.”

So your yews, arborvitae and euonymus look pretty tasty. It’s winter tree damage to you, but for them, it’s just dinner. 

“You can tell deer damage because they eat until they can’t reach anymore, so there’s damage, but then the top looks totally normal,” Ware says. “Or the front of the shrub will be eaten and the back looks totally fine.”

If the damage isn’t too severe, a shrub might repair itself, but it might need replacing, Ware says. Just don’t replace it with the same kind of plant. 

“If deer are eating it this winter, they’ll probably come back for it again next winter,” he says. “Substitute something the deer won’t eat, like inkberry holly.”

Winter Burn On Evergreens

Do the needles on your evergreens look brown or scorched?

Narrow-leaf evergreens, like hemlock, juniper, pine and yew, and broad-leaved evergreens, including boxwood and rhododendron, are especially susceptible to winter burn, also called desiccation. It’s a common type of winter tree damage. 
Winter sun and winds dry out needles. Water in the stems and roots is frozen, so it can’t replenish the loss.

Most leaves will fall or be pushed off by new growth, but those that don’t can be hand-stripped or pruned away.

“Boxwood will usually come back from winter burn,” Ware says, “but you can use 
horticultural oil in the fall to close up the leaves’ pores to help prevent it.”

How to Fix Winter-Damaged Grass 

Ice melt products do a nice job of melting slick ice on your commercial property, which is crucial to help prevent liability, but they can also cause damage to your grass and plant material.

Road runoff that contains dissolved salts not only injures plants directly but also can change the structure of the soil, changing its pH level and causing grass to die.
 
If you notice dried, burnt leaf edges, it’s likely salt damage.

Re-seeding winter-damaged lawns will replace dead grass, but Ware says it’s important to bring the soil back to the proper pH balance first.

“Salt lowers the pH of the soil lower than grass likes,” he says. “Add lime to adjust the soil pH and then reseed. That helps give the new grass a chance.”

Proper Use of Ice Melt Helps Prevent Winter Lawn Damage

“We constantly try to do the right thing for safety and do the right thing for the environment,” Ware says.

That includes using proper amounts of products, he says.

“More salt doesn’t mean more melting — it doesn’t work that way,” he says. “It’s common to assume you need more than you actually do. We’re always training our crews on the proper amounts to use to melt the ice but reduce damage to the environment.”

Crews also work to keep ice melt products on hard surfaces so the chemicals don’t damage your turf. We don’t apply excess — just the amount needed to melt the ice. 

Level Green  crews use an engineered ice melt mixture that’s less corrosive than straight rock salt and friendlier to the environment and landscaping.

Brine is a great tool to reduce the use of damaging salt, Ware says.

“We use brine a lot,” Ware says. It’s a liquid mixture of water and salt that’s sprayed on roads, parking lots and walkways, usually before a snow or ice storm. 

Brine uses one quarter of the amount of salt as traditional rock salt, which means it’s better for the environment and your landscaping. 

Use Snow Stakes to Help Avoid Winter Lawn Damage from Plows

Snow stakes are a great tool to help manage winter damage to trees and shrubs and prevent winter lawn damage, Ware says. 

“Snow stakes help plow drivers know where pavement ends and lawn begins,”
Ware says. “We put them in at the beginning of the season and remove them in the spring.”

Without them, snow plow blades can dig in along the edges of the lawn, causing it to lift, rip, and tear. 

Use One Company for Landscaping and Snow Removal

When one company handles all your commercial property’s landscape needs, from turf care to fall clean-up to snow and ice removal, it makes preventing winter damage on your commercial property a lot easier.

During spring, summer and fall, our crews really get to know your property, from how wide your sidewalks are to the locations of your trees and shrubs. 

We have an extra interest in keeping your plant material safe from damage. We’ve worked hard to select it, plant it and care for it all year.

Need Help Managing Winter Landscape Damage? Trust Level Green

You can’t control winter weather, but partnering with a proactive commercial landscaping team can help prevent winter damage to your valuable lawn, shrubs and trees. 

If you’re not already a Level Green Landscaping client, we’d love to add you to our growing list of happy customers. Our focus is on commercial landscaping in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia serving properties like offices, mixed-use sites, HOAs, municipalities and institutions. 

Contact us at 202-544-0968. You can also request a free consultation online to meet with us one-on-one.

We’d love to hear from you.