Caring for Shrubs in Winter & Cold Weather

Hi, I'm John Guion with Bell Nursery for Expert Village and we are going to help you prepare your garden for Winter today. Now we are talking about how to take care of your shrubs to help them survive through the Winter better. There are three things you want to think about. The first thing is you want to prune off any lower undesirable limbs that you will not need for next year. Also, any leggy limbs that have grown throughout the season. This is a Crepe Myrtle. It has limbs from the bottom all the way to the top. I prefer to snip at the Winter time but prior to Winter months, snipping the lower limbs off so you can create more of a Crepe Myrtle tree as opposed to a Crepe Myrtle bush. Then when the limbs come out next Spring, they will grow up fast and furious for you and you will have yuour desired finished product. The second thing is mulching. Mulching is very important to help it sustain through the Winter. You want to scrape away any of the old mulch and then add up to 3 inches of fresh new mulch and the third thing is water. You do want to water. The water will go down and you have some days it is 50 or 60 degrees, excellent to water your plant at that time. A watered plant will survive the Winter much better than a dry plant.