Heritage Lawns and Irrigation

Birds need a drink in the winter too

Still no snow in Kansas City yet this year.  The weatherman is saying we are getting close to records for the latest ever,  which is sometime in March back in the dust bowl days of the early 30′s.  That ought to tell you something.  WE ARE GETTING DRY!  Especially the evergreens.  I took two calls this week from homeowners worried about boxwoods and hollies that were turning brown.  The cute birds I found in this picture aren’t the only ones that need water during these prolonged dry spells, hot or cold.  The warmer windy days aren’t helping.  Think of it this way.  The deciduous trees and shrubs that drop their leaves don’t transpire much water during the winter, but the evergreens still do.  So when we have warm windy days they need almost as much water as they do in the summer.  No snow, frozen ground, and windy days all make it hard on our evergreens like boxwood, holly, yews, azaleas, arbovitae, pines etc.

Here is a good article from Colorado State University on winter watering

A slow trickle from a garden hose in the middle of the day when temperatures are over 40 is pretty simple.  Don’t forget to unhook your hose and drain it so nothing freezes and breaks when the temps drop again.