COVINGTON, Ky. — Mary Ann Schultz is the horticulture technician with the Kenton County Cooperative Extension Office in Covington and they are looking ahead to spring with the extension’s space for vegetables, trees and other plants.
“Yeah, getting things back growing again and having a good harvest and enjoying the bounty hopefully,” she said.
Schulz knows it’s been a unique environment for many plants to live going from a dry fall, deep cold in December and then the mild February.
“That’s nature. That’s what happens,” Schultz said.
Schulz says the office does a lot of educational work and is on a mission to make a difference in the lives of Kentuckians through community development, family and consumer sciences, agriculture and more. She and others at the office are watching to see how winter affects the different items growing and living in the outdoor space.
“This is a juniper. A lot of it is the evergreens and maybe some of the fruit trees, but this bronzing, the discoloration of those. And then around front we have some new shrubs that we’ve put in that we’re just kind of hoping that they make it through,” she said.
Even though Schulz is watching this outdoor space, she knows others with a green thumb might see some damage as well in their gardens. She says fruit trees could be something to watch—with not as many blooms and fruit found on those, depending on the tree.
“Newly planted plants planted in the late summer, early fall—they may have suffered a bit. There was a lot of wind on top of the cold and that tends to dry out some of the leaves,” she mentioned.
Schulz says to monitor everything, including moisture in your soil after having such a dry fall. If you need help, she encourages gardeners to reach out to experts like her at the extension office.
