It's kind of mild now, but you know it's not going to stay that way. It's going to be getting cold soon. And if you have broad leaf evergreens, such as rhododendrons, mountain laurel, pieras, you want to protect them in the winter because a lot of times, the leaves will just dry out through the winter. You'll see curled leaves when they get really cold and the leaves turn brown and die if it's severe. The leaves are still alive and taking up water even in winter, so you want to protect them.
One of the things to do is spray them with an anti- desiccant spray. It's like chapstick for your plants. It puts a waxy layer all along the leaves on the top and bottom and protects them so they don't dry out as much. You want to do it when the temperatures are above 40F and then you want to do again a second time probably in January sometime. So you're going to have to be hoping for a January thaw. If you do it twice a year, it will protect the plant and it get through the winter.
If you don't want to use the anti-desiccant you can wrap the plant in burlap. Put four stakes in around your rhododendrons and other evergreens. Wrap and staple the burlap to the stakes. The cold winter winds will get blocked by the burlap so it doesn't dry out the leaves as much. Its not so much the cold, but it's the winds drying out the leaves that really is the problem.
By Charlie Nardozzi
