Watering your evergreen trees, shrubs and broadleaf evergreens before winter

In our growing zone, it wouldn’t be winter without healthy, green evergreens standing tall against the harsh colds and snows of December and January. The best way to ensure the health of your evergreens for this time is to prepare before it starts to freeze. Keeping your evergreen trees, shrubs and broadleaf evergreens watered will give your plants the best chance at making it though the frosty months. You may not think that it is important to water now that it’s starting to get cold, but watering up until freeze will keep your evergreens happy until the warmth of spring.

So how should you water evergreen trees shrubs and broadleaf evergreens before freeze? As explained by our Garden Center Manager and Horticulturalist, Sean Ducey:

How: Use an open-ended garden hose. The use of soaker hoses and root feeders will work but may produce less than desirable results.

Where: Lay the garden hose at the base of the plant over the root ball/root zone. DO NOT water at the drip line of the tree (the outer circumference of the tree, where the leaves stop around). Keep the hose as close to the trunk as possible. Move the hose half way through the watering to ensure even distribution.

How much: Watering deeply and less frequently is key to establishing new plants. The rate of flow should be at a rate of which the water is flowing into the root zone and not rushing off of the top of the soil surface. Do this to a point to where the root zone is 1/3 saturated. The only way to truly tell if you have achieved this is to dig around the plant and check.

How often: You want your soil to dry out between waterings. Check the soil three days after watering and see how much of the soil has dried out. You will have to dig around the plant to accurately determine what is happening to the soil. Continue this until the ground has begun to freeze.

Follow these steps until the ground begins to freeze, and your evergreen trees, shrubs and broadleaf evergreens should make it though the winter with no problems, thanking you in vibrancy and health next growing season.

Whispering Hills Garden and Landscape Center is a full service landscape center and nursery located in Cary, Illinois. Stop in today for our full selection of deciduous trees and shrubs, now 50% off. (Updated: 11/13/21)