Why I Oughta...

If you look closely at the photo below, you can see a few of the lights on our Christmas tree inside the house as a tell for the time of year this photo is taken.  This is what I see when I go out to feed the birds and critters in the morning:  our rhododendrons looking sad and curled up from the cold.  By midday, they've recovered and seem to be just fine.    I've come to really appreciate these two shrubs on either side of our back stoop.  This year, I didn't apply any Wilt-Pruf to them, so not sure what impact that might have on their overwintering.  They did, however, get a nice layer of new mulch this season, so I'm hoping they're tucked in nicely and will - once again - surprise me by surviving.  Having SUCH a tropical look in the middle of Summer is a real nice treat for me up here in Zone 5b.  Surviving the Winter in Zone 5b just strikes me as an oddity based on their look during Summer.  Guess that's why I'm drawn to them.

This is the second year that I've applied Wilt Pruf to some of our most delicate plants to prepare them for Winter.  Last year, I posted photos showing off how I applied Wilt Pruf to just one of our Rhododendrons as an experiment and it turned out t hat one that didn't get any Wilt Pruf seemed better than the one that has an application .  But, that could be for a variety of reasons - and perhaps the Wilt Pruf helped keep the one that was a little behind healthy during the tough Winter. I also applied Wilt Pruf to the small Weeping Cedar tree last Fall, but it didn't survive , so this is clearly not bulletproof. So...what is Wilt Pruf?  And why would you apply it to your plants before Winter? From this product listing : Wilt-Pruf is a natural, pine oil emulsion that is organic, non-hazardous and biodegradable. Simply, spray it on to form a transparent and flexible, protective coating that will keep plant foliage and stems from drying out through extended periods