Dial Environmental Blog

Harsh winter conditions can be incredibly challenging to your shrubs and trees. Freezing temperatures, icy winds, and heavy snow for months can all take a toll on your landscaping.  Yet the biggest threat to your plants and greenery during the winter months is water loss, also called desiccation. Frozen soil keeps plants and shrubs from replacing their stored water supply with moisture from the ground. Overlooking your landscaping’s need for a healthy amount of water during the off-season isn’t a good plan. The experts at Dial Environmental can help keep your plants from drying out by taking the proper precautions before Old Man Winter arrives.  How Cold Weather Affects Your Plants  Plants and shrubs, such as bushes, are very threatened by cold temperatures that cause desiccation and browning of leaves. On days when the air is cold and the sky is sunny, the needles and leaves of plants become warm which...

A chill is in the air, leaves are falling, plants are no longer blooming, and everyone is anxiously awaiting winter’s arrival. Now that you’ve put away or covered your lawn furniture, it may seem like there’s nothing else to do outside until next spring. However, that’s an incorrect assumption. The cold autumn and winter months are often the best time to practice Dormant Pruning. What is Dormant Pruning? Dormant Pruning is a style of pruning trees and shrubs during a period that will cause the least amount of stress to the plants. In the Northeast, the cold winter months can be the best time to perform the routine maintenance of dormant pruning. That’s because plants are in a “resting” phase, usually starting during the autumn season and extending until early spring.    By working with an ISA Certified Arborist, you can prune damaged tree limbs, elevate low limbs, shape canopies, clear...