"Pat Kiewicz" wrote:
brooklyn1 said:
"Pat Kiewicz" wrote:

My mother would envy you those bleeding hearts. Every year, the spring
weather in Colorado thwarts her and takes out her bleeding hearts.
(Fond
memories of them in springtimes back east keep her trying.)

I always think of bleeding heart as a rather tough plant, it't one of the
first to come up here every spring. Spring in the Catskills is often
wintry
too, it was 33ºF early yesterday morning, down from unseasonal mid 80s the
prior week. I have my bleeding heart tucked into a corner close to the
south side of the house, perhaps your mom needs to find a more protected
and hospitable location

Heh, you don't know how the weather on the plains of NE Colorado can
zoom around, do you. She's got her bleeding hearts in her little
courtyard
(as sheltered as possible). There are lilacs planted all over her town,
and yet,
she tells me, most years the blooms get blasted. Too many very warm Feb-
Mar days followed by late April blizzards will do that!

(I've never lived in Colorado myself, but it is a nice place to visit,
even in the
flat parts.)


In these parts the winds can be horrific too but folks protect their
vulnerable plantings by shielding with burlap, etc., many will wrap each
individual shrub or protect an entire bed by attaching cloth to their deer
fencing... some use snow drift fencing to block the wind and protect plants
from being buried in snow drifts, all sorts of ingenious systems. The
weight of snow can do more damage to plants than wind... my neighbor goes
out during heavy snow storms with a broom to sweep the snow from all his
Colorado blue spruce before the weight of the snow breaks the branches.
People also use wind resistant plantings to shield more vulnerable
plantings, I have a 70' high double row of Norway spruce as a windbreak all
along the western side of my house, keeps my heating bills down and at the
same time protects my plants... and during blizzards as the snow accumulates
on those branches it forms a solid wall impenitrable to wind. That's why
the wildlife heads for the evergreen forests; on the coldest windiest days
the air inside remains still and the canopy actually traps the warmth
radiating from the ground. Many people here place evergreen boughs over
their vulnerable plants and beds, shields from wind, supports snow
accumulation, and holds in warmth. When I'm done with my Christmas tree
I'll lay it over a couple of shrubs until spring when I haul it into the
woods. I bet if your mom propped her spent Christmas tree over her bleeding
hearts plant it would be fine.