How to help landscaping, wildlife before the cold temperatures arrive

So far, it’s been an on and off again winter and now, it’s about to get seriously cold.

And maybe, we will have our season’s first snow by the weekend.

It’s still too soon to know for sure, but here is what we know for now.

“It looks like cold air will be arriving on Thursday with falling afternoon temperatures,” said Paul Howerton, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wichita. “Friday highs will be in the mid-30s and even colder with the cold continuing to come in by Saturday. The highs on Saturday will be in the low 30s. Highs on Sunday will be in the upper 20s. Lows will be in the teens.”

There is a slight chance of a rain/snow mix on Friday afternoon with a second chance – a 30 percent chance – of snow on Saturday night through Sunday.

“There is still a bit of uncertainty and conflicting signals of if and where the bulk of snow will occur,” Howerton said. “But it will be cold.”

And that, dear friends of Nature, can affect not only us but the plants and wild birds.

This on an off again winter with springlike temperatures left the Bradford Pear trees blooming at Halloween and other trees putting on buds this week.

The day-time temperatures from now through Thursday will be in the mid 50s.

Matthew McKernan, Sedgwick County horticulture agent, is encouraging people that if they can, water bushes, trees and lawns.

“We have had no rain which makes things worse,” McKernan said. “There is not a lot we can do right now except provide some supplemental moisture to our trees, shrubs and landscape. As we go into this really cold weather, especially if we have sharp temperature drops, it can do some damage.”

The plants most affected are the drought-resistant plants or trees such as the Arizona Cypress, Blue Atlas Cedar, Boxwoods and others.

“They are designed to handle the tough summer heat but lack the cold tolerance we need to get through a Kansas winter,” he said.

It terms of plant hardiness, Kansas is located in Zone 6 of the United States Department of Agriculture – a map to determine which plants are most likely to thrive on the average minimum winter temperature.

“The annual extreme minimum is zero to negative 10 degrees below,” McKernan said. “Most given years our plants can handle that – that’s what they are rated for. We shouldn’t be too concerned but the extreme fluctuations do make it hard on our outdoor plants.”

The cold temperatures also can be hard on the wild birds who come into our yards, said Jim Mason, director of the Great Plains Nature Center.

“The main thing they need right now is water,” Mason said. “It has been so dry. If people can get some water out to them, it would be much appreciated. If they can have a water source that splashes or drips, the sound is appealing and will hellp draw them in.”

When it gets cold, the birds will need food – particularly if it snows and the fields and grass are covered.

Backyard feeders are often a godsend for the small birds.

However, Mason said if it has been awhile since you have cleaned the porthole feeders, take them down before filling them and scrub them out with disinfectant or bleach.

“There is an eye fungus that’s going around that can kill the birds,” Mason said. “Their eyes get swollen, they go blind and starve to death or are picked to death by predators. You will see house finches and sparrows with eyes swollen or puffed up, and that’s the bacteria or yeast infection. It’s bad and transmittable to other birds.”

This story was originally published December 19, 2017 at 11:59 AM with the headline "How to help landscaping, wildlife before the cold temperatures arrive."