Road salt and other de - icers are a fact of life in Minnesota winter , continue ice from forming on road and sidewalks . And , just as many preferred proprietor take precautions to protect their beast ’ feet , gardeners should give thought to plants that may be affected by route salt .
How Does Road Salt Affect Plants ?
Road SALT are mostly chloride - base product that form a liquid that freeze at a low temperature than urine . The result is that shabu is less probable to imprint or to cling to sidewalks , roadstead and other surface . allot toRutgers University , route saltiness affects plant on both their foliation and at the base point . Salt can be sprayed on plants by exceed vehicle or it can be engross into soil when snow melts in spring .
Snow means salt for northern gardeners.
Too much salt can affect a industrial plant ’s ability to suck up water and take up vital nutrients such as potassium and phosphoric . leafage burn and root word or twig dieback are among the signs of salt damage .
What ’s a Gardener to Do ?
Salt is an topic only for plants that are near sidewalks and roadways , and Rutgers recommends that gardeners adapt how they shovel in order of magnitude to reduce the amount of salinity postulate . Shovel first to clean the paseo , then put on the minimum amount of defroster needed to keep the area dependable . You may also desire to experiment with salt option , such as sand or pussycat litter , which make a less slippery surface without actually melting the shabu .
Grasses and sedum are among plants that tolerate road salt.
In areas where you’re able to not see the amount of salt , such as on a avenue garden , choose flora that stick out Strategic Arms Limitation Talks better . coniferous tree , for instance , do very poorly in to a great extent salted areas because they are not able to moult the salt by shed leaves . Other plants do much better particularly grasses and those with waxy foliage .
Garden blogger Tara Nolanlists several perennialsthat do very well in a boulevard area where route saltiness is used , includingtall sedum , Russian sage , columbine , butterfly sess ( Asclepias tuberosa),Karl Foerster grassand Silver Mound artremisa . Interestingly , many of these plants are one I planted in a garden bed that beat circumstances of sun and sight of salt spray . They thrived there !
Other plant life that may do well in a salt - strewn surface area include birch , honeylocust , oak tree , spirea , willow andlittle bluestem . The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has a list of Minnesota plants and their salt tolerance .
Artemisa ‘Silver Mound’ can tolerate road salt.
