Seasonal Planning
How to Winterize Your Landscape in Wisconsin
The short answer
Winterize a Wisconsin landscape in late October and November: water evergreens deeply until the ground freezes and screen them from wind and road salt, guard young tree trunks against rabbits and sunscald, mulch tender perennials after the soil cools, blow out the irrigation system before the first hard freeze, drain water features and containers, and stake hardscape edges for the plow.
Key takeaways
- Winter kills plants in Zone 5b through desiccation, rodents, sunscald, frost heave, and salt far more often than through cold itself. Winterizing addresses those five, not the temperature.
- Evergreens lose water all winter and cannot replace it from frozen soil. Deep watering into November is the single most effective evergreen protection, ahead of any wrap.
- Burlap screens go on the windward and road-facing sides, staked a foot out from the plant — not wrapped tight around it. Anti-desiccant sprays help broadleaf evergreens.
- Rabbits girdle young trees and shrubs under snow cover. Hardware-cloth cylinders to 24 inches above expected snow depth, installed in November, prevent it.
- Winter mulch on tender perennials goes on after the ground has cooled, in late November, to keep the soil frozen rather than to keep it warm; it comes off in April.
- Irrigation is blown out before the first hard freeze, usually by mid-to-late October in Sheboygan County. Hardscape is protected by staking edges, moving containers, and choosing a paver-safe de-icer.
The plants that die over a Sheboygan County winter usually do not freeze to death. The arborvitae browns because it dried out in February wind with its roots locked in frozen ground. The young maple is girdled by rabbits under the snow. The coral bells heave out of the soil in a March thaw. The boxwood along the road is burned by plow spray. Each of those has a specific prevention, and all of them are done in the six weeks between the last leaves and the first plowable snow.
This guide covers winterizing a Wisconsin landscape in the order it happens — plants, lawn, water systems, hardscape — with the local timing for each. It is the winter-protection companion to the fall cleanup checklist, for homeowners in Sheboygan, Sheboygan Falls, Plymouth, Kohler, and Howards Grove, and it is honest about which steps matter for which plants so nobody wraps a juniper that never needed it.
How do you winterize a landscape in Wisconsin?
Winterize a Wisconsin landscape by watering evergreens deeply until the ground freezes, screening exposed evergreens from wind and salt, protecting young tree trunks from rabbits and sunscald, applying winter mulch to tender perennials after the soil cools, making the final mow short and removing leaves, blowing out irrigation before the first hard freeze, draining and covering water features, emptying containers, and staking hardscape edges for the plow — all between late October and the first snow.
The order follows the freeze. Watering has to happen while the soil still takes water, so it runs from October through the first hard freeze. Irrigation has to be cleared before that freeze, which in Sheboygan County typically arrives in the second half of October, a week or so later than inland because of Lake Michigan. Screens, trunk guards, and hardscape staking go on in November, once the leaves are down and before snow makes it awkward. Winter mulch is last, applied after the ground has frozen or nearly so, usually late November into early December.
What does not need doing is as important. Established, hardy shrubs and trees — lilac, viburnum, ninebark, spruce, most junipers, native perennials — need no protection at all beyond the fall cleanup, and wrapping them wastes burlap and holds moisture against foliage. Winterizing is for the vulnerable: evergreens in wind and salt, young and thin-barked trees, marginally hardy or shallow-rooted perennials, anything planted this year, and the systems and surfaces that freezing water breaks. The sections below take each in turn.
Protecting evergreens from winter burn and salt
Protect evergreens by watering them deeply every week or two from October until the ground freezes, so they enter winter fully hydrated; by staking burlap screens on the windward (northwest) and road-facing sides of arborvitae, boxwood, yew, and young spruce, set a foot out from the foliage; and by applying an anti-desiccant spray to broadleaf evergreens in late fall. Junipers, mature spruce and pine, and sheltered plantings usually need nothing.
Winter burn is dehydration. Evergreens keep their foliage and keep transpiring through winter, especially on sunny, windy days, but once the soil freezes their roots cannot take up water to replace what is lost, and the foliage dries out and browns from the exposed side inward. The most effective defense is water in the plant before the ground freezes — a deep soaking every week or two through October and into November, with the last one right before the freeze. A dry fall, which the county gets more often than not, is the fall that produces brown arborvitae in March.
Screens address the wind and the salt. Burlap on stakes, set 12 to 18 inches out from the foliage on the northwest side and on any side facing a plowed road, breaks the wind and catches the salt spray without touching the plant. Wrapping burlap directly around an arborvitae holds ice and moisture against the foliage and does more harm than good; the exception is tying up multi-stem arborvitae loosely with twine so heavy snow does not splay them. Anti-desiccant sprays, applied on a day above 40°F in late November, add a waxy coating that slows water loss on boxwood, rhododendron, and holly. Mature, well-established evergreens in a sheltered spot have survived every winter so far and will survive this one unwrapped.
Protecting trees and shrubs: rabbits, deer, sunscald, and snow load
Protect young trees and shrubs from rabbits with hardware-cloth cylinders around the trunk to 2 feet above expected snow depth, from deer with fencing or repellents on arborvitae, yew, and young fruit trees, from sunscald with a light-colored trunk wrap on thin-barked species from November to April, and from snow load by tying up columnar evergreens and keeping roof-slide zones clear of brittle shrubs. Remove wraps and guards in spring.
Each threat, and the specific fix.
- Rabbits
- Under snow, rabbits strip bark from young trees and shrubs at the snow line, girdling and killing them. A cylinder of quarter-inch hardware cloth around each trunk, 2 feet taller than the expected snow and pushed into the soil, installed by mid-November. Young fruit trees, maples, crabapples, serviceberry, burning bush, and roses are the usual victims.
- Deer
- Outside the city, deer browse arborvitae, yew, young fruit trees, and hydrangea buds all winter. Physical barriers — netting or fencing — work; repellents applied monthly on mild days help. Plant deer-resistant species where pressure is heavy and skip the fight.
- Sunscald
- On bright February days the southwest side of a thin-barked trunk warms, then freezes at dusk, splitting the bark. Young maples, fruit trees, honeylocust, and linden are vulnerable. A white or light-colored trunk wrap from the ground to the first branches, November through early April, reflects the sun; remove it in spring so it does not harbor insects.
- Snow and ice load
- Columnar arborvitae and junipers splay open under wet snow. Loosely spiral twine around them from the base up in November. Brittle shrubs under roof edges where snow slides — boxwood, hydrangea, spirea — get a simple A-frame cover or are planted elsewhere.
- Newly planted anything
- Trees and shrubs planted this year get all of the above as applicable, plus deep watering until the freeze and a 3-inch mulch ring pulled back from the trunk. Their first winter is their most dangerous.
- Do not
- Do not fertilize in fall, do not prune after mid-August except dead wood, and do not pile mulch against trunks — a mulch volcano is a rabbit and vole shelter with the bark inside it.
Perennials, beds, and the lawn
Winterize perennial beds by cutting back diseased foliage and leaving sturdy stems and grasses standing, then applying 3 to 4 inches of loose winter mulch — shredded leaves, straw, or evergreen boughs — over tender and shallow-rooted perennials after the ground has cooled in late November, to be removed in April. Winterize the lawn with a late-October winterizer fertilizer, a final mow at 2.5 inches, and complete leaf removal before snow.
Winter mulch is misunderstood. It is not applied to keep the soil warm; it is applied after the soil has cooled or frozen to keep it frozen, so that the freeze-thaw cycles of a Sheboygan County March do not heave shallow-rooted plants — coral bells, coreopsis, Shasta daisy, mums, new divisions, anything planted this fall — out of the ground with their roots exposed. Applied too early, over warm soil, it delays dormancy and invites rot and voles. Applied in late November over cooled soil and removed in April as growth starts, it is the difference between those plants returning or not. Established hardy perennials, natives, and grasses need none.
The lawn's winterization is mostly done by the fall schedule already: the winterizer fertilizer in late October after top growth stops, the final mow at about 2.5 inches to limit snow mold and vole runs, and every leaf off the turf before snow so nothing mats and smothers it. Two winter-specific additions: keep salted snow piles off the lawn edges along the drive and street, where the sodium kills a strip every year, and stay off frozen turf where possible, since foot and vehicle traffic on frozen crowns leaves dead tracks in spring.
Irrigation, water features, hoses, and containers
Winterize water systems by blowing out the irrigation with compressed air zone by zone, draining the backflow preventer and leaving its valves half-open, shutting off and draining outdoor hose bibs and disconnecting hoses, draining fountains and pond pumps and either removing or protecting them, and emptying or moving terra cotta and ceramic containers before they freeze and crack. All of it before the first hard freeze in mid-to-late October.
In order of how soon each will break if left.
Blow out the irrigation
Shut off the supply, attach a compressor at the blowout port, and run each zone until only mist comes out — at a pressure and volume appropriate to the pipe, which is why this is usually a professional service. Water left in lines and heads freezes and splits them.
Drain the backflow preventer
Open the test cocks and leave the ball valves at 45 degrees so no chamber holds water. A cracked backflow preventer is the most common and most expensive spring irrigation repair, and it is entirely preventable.
Hose bibs and hoses
Disconnect and drain all hoses. Shut the interior valve on non-frost-free bibs and open the outside spigot to drain. Frost-free bibs still freeze if a hose is left attached.
Water features
Drain fountains and birdbaths, store the pump indoors in a bucket of water, and cover the basin. Ponds with fish keep a de-icer or aerator running to maintain an opening in the ice; pumps are removed or lowered below the freeze line per the design.
Containers
Empty terra cotta, ceramic, and concrete pots or move them into a garage; wet soil expands when it freezes and cracks them. Move any planters off paver surfaces so they are out of the plow path and do not trap salt against the pavers. Fiberglass and resin pots can stay out if drained.
Rain barrels and downspout diverters
Drain the barrel, disconnect it, and reconnect the downspout to its winter extension so roof melt goes away from the foundation all winter.
Preparing hardscape for plowing and salt
Prepare hardscape for winter by staking the edges of paver driveways, walks, and patios and the faces of low walls so the plow driver can see them under snow; clearing the plow path of furniture, planters, and lighting; choosing a paver- and concrete-safe de-icer and using no chloride product on first-year concrete; sealing new pavers if desired before the freeze; and agreeing where snow will be piled so it stays off beds and walls.
Plow damage is a communication problem. A driver in the dark in a storm cannot see where the paver driveway ends and the lawn begins, where the low seating wall sits at the edge of the patio, or where the path lights are. Fiberglass driveway markers every 8 to 10 feet along paver edges and at every corner, and a stake at each end of a wall, solve it. So does a conversation before the first storm about where snow goes: not on the hydrangea bed, not against the arborvitae hedge, not piled on the retaining wall it will push over when it melts. A crew that installed or maintains the landscaping already knows; a new plow contractor needs to be told.
Salt is the other winter threat to hardscape, and the rule is simple: none on concrete poured this year, calcium or magnesium chloride sparingly on established concrete and pavers, sand where a surface should not be salted, and sweep the residue up in spring. Polymeric sand joints hold up better than plain sand under freeze-thaw and plowing, and a penetrating sealer applied to pavers in a dry October window reduces salt absorption and makes spring cleanup easier. Any paver that has settled or any wall stone that has shifted is reset before winter rather than after, because water in an open joint freezes and makes it worse.
How Beyond Landscaping winterizes the properties it maintains
Beyond Landscaping winterizes properties across Sheboygan County as the last phase of fall cleanup — deep watering and burlap screens for exposed evergreens, trunk guards on young trees, winter mulch on tender perennials, the final mow and leaf removal, coordination of irrigation blowout, and hardscape staking and de-icer planning — with the snow contract in place so the same crew that protected the landscape is the one plowing around it.
Because the crew knows each property, winterizing is targeted rather than blanket: the arborvitae hedge on the road side gets screened and the one in the sheltered backyard does not; the maple planted in September gets a trunk guard and a watering schedule; the coral bells in the front bed get leaf mulch after Thanksgiving; the new patio gets its edges staked and a note in the snow file that it is pavers, not asphalt. It is a checklist run once for each property in November and adjusted as the plantings mature.
Beyond Landscaping serves Sheboygan Falls, Sheboygan, Plymouth, Kohler, Howards Grove, Elkhart Lake, Glenbeulah, and Waldo. For maintenance clients, winterization is part of the fall program; for anyone else, it is a single late-fall visit that covers the vulnerable plants and the hardscape — and that is usually followed by the question of who is plowing.
Sources and references
Frequently asked questions about winterizing your landscape
When should I winterize my landscape in Wisconsin?
Winterize a Wisconsin landscape between mid-October and the first plowable snow. Irrigation is blown out before the first hard freeze, typically by mid-to-late October in Sheboygan County. Evergreens are watered deeply until the ground freezes in November. Burlap screens, trunk guards, and hardscape staking go on in November once leaves are down. Winter mulch on tender perennials is applied last, in late November after the soil has cooled, and removed in April.
Should I wrap my arborvitae for winter?
Wrap arborvitae only if they are exposed to strong northwest wind or to salt spray from a plowed road, and do it by staking a burlap screen 12 to 18 inches out from the foliage on the exposed side rather than wrapping burlap tightly around the plant, which traps ice and moisture. Deep watering through October and November matters more than any screen. Multi-stem arborvitae can be loosely tied with twine to prevent snow from splaying them. Sheltered, established arborvitae need nothing.
How do I protect young trees from rabbits in winter?
Protect young trees from rabbits by placing a cylinder of quarter-inch hardware cloth around each trunk in November, extending from the soil to at least 2 feet above the expected snow depth, since rabbits feed at the snow line. Plastic spiral guards and tree wrap also deter rabbits on smaller trunks. Young fruit trees, maples, crabapples, serviceberry, and shrubs like burning bush and roses are the most commonly girdled. Remove guards in spring to prevent insect and moisture problems.
When should I put winter mulch on perennials?
Apply winter mulch to tender and shallow-rooted perennials in late November, after the ground has cooled or begun to freeze — not in October over warm soil. Its purpose is to keep the soil frozen through March thaws so plants like coral bells, coreopsis, mums, and fall-planted divisions do not heave out of the ground. Use 3 to 4 inches of loose material such as shredded leaves, straw, or evergreen boughs, and remove it in April as growth begins. Established hardy perennials and grasses need no winter mulch.
What causes evergreens to turn brown in winter?
Evergreens turn brown in winter from desiccation, called winter burn: the foliage keeps losing water on sunny, windy days while the roots cannot replace it from frozen soil, so the exposed side dries out and browns. Road salt spray adds chemical burn on the side facing traffic. Prevention is deep watering from October until the ground freezes, burlap screens on the windward and road sides, and anti-desiccant spray on broadleaf evergreens. Browned foliage on arborvitae does not regrow, so prevention is the only cure.
How do I protect my paver patio and driveway in winter?
Protect pavers in winter by staking the edges so the plow can see them, asking the plow contractor to use a rubber-edged or shoed blade and to pile snow away from beds and walls, using a paver-safe de-icer such as magnesium or calcium chloride sparingly instead of rock salt, keeping planters and furniture off the surface, resetting any settled pavers before the freeze, and sweeping up de-icer residue in spring. Sealing pavers in a dry fall window reduces salt absorption and staining.