I hope you like the new look  to the Sunday Gardener. I think it's a super stylish design; easier to navigate with drop down menus full of information and gardening tips. Now the Sunday Gardener is back up and running, (having been quiet for a month whilst sorting out the new design,)  lots more information will be added in the coming months to give the best seasonal advice.

Many thanks to  Tia at Who Ate My Crayons who did a designed the new look.

If you are under a blanket of snow, so too are the shrubs and bushes. I used to think to advice to knock snow off bushes was just pedantic gardening. I now know, having had several shrubs the trunks of which were split  and damaged by the snow, that it's sound advice. When there is a lot of snow, shrubs, particularly those with open crown shapes, are prone to the snow weighing down the branches forcing them apart and eventually cracking the trunk. Sometimes the weight of the snow forces the branches close to the ground the snow freezes pinning the branch down, and again it snaps. It is worth knocking the heavy snow off shrubs to avoid damage. The image on left is a heap of branches which had to be pruned from an Elaeagnus after snow damage a costly mistake.