If you have branches hanging over your home, sidewalk or driveway, you may want to consider
pruning, removing or installing cables before they fail under the stress of winter weather. If a limb
is dead, dying, diseased, or unsafe, it is best to remove it.

Are you generally preparing your home for the cold winter, such as installing air conditioning or
covering your patio furniture with a tarp? It seems like most people are making some preparations
for the start of winter. Every homeowner has some type of property outside their home that needs
to be protected from harsh winter weather. Trees and shrubs are also assets to your outdoor living
space. When the weather is nice, you can enjoy a barbecue on the terrace. Trees provide shade
during the bright, sunny days of summer. Fortunately, all you have to do to prepare your trees and
other plants for winter is much simpler than dismantling patio furniture or dragging a tarp to cover
them.

• Make a plan to cut or remove them.
• It is more convenient to prune trees in winter because they are dormant.
• Inspect trees and shrubs before snow and ice accumulate.
• Perform a visual inspection on the ground. Look for cracks, splits and contained branches. Are
  there any wires sticking out of your house or limbs? So, does snow and ice buildup make your
  limbs more prone to sagging or breaking?

Mulching, watering, fertilizing

Apply 2 to 4 inches of mulch throughout landscape beds and rings.

Before fertilizing your trees and shrubs, it is best to know what you are fertilizing and why you
are fertilizing it. How did your trees and shrubs look last growing season? All plants need the
nutrients that fertilizer provides, but providing more nutrients than is readily available can be
detrimental to their health and growth cycle. The best advice we can give is to look for an organic,
slow-release, low-salt fertilizer that will replenish nutrients lost from your plants last year, promote
continued health, and improve the overall vigor, size, and color of your plants.