Here is a piece of local knowledge that separates people who have lived here a while from people who have just arrived: in Colorado Springs, you water in winter.
It sounds wrong. The lawn is dormant, the sprinklers are blown out, and nothing is growing. But our winters are dry, bright and windy, and plants continue losing moisture through the whole season while the ground gives none back.
Why it matters here specifically
Three conditions combine against landscape plants through our winter:
Long dry spells. We can go weeks without meaningful precipitation. Snow cover, when it comes, often does not last long enough to soak in.
Sun and wind. Bright winter sun and Chinook winds pull moisture out of needles, leaves and bark continuously. Evergreens are particularly exposed because they keep their foliage all winter.
Frozen or dry soil. Roots cannot replace what is lost when there is nothing available to take up.
The result is winter desiccation. The frustrating part is the delay: the plant is damaged in January and February, and you do not see it until it fails to leaf out in May. Most people blame spring conditions for a problem that happened months earlier.
What is most at risk
- Newly planted trees and shrubs — anything in the ground less than about three years, which has not established a root system
- Evergreens — pines, spruces, junipers, and especially anything on a south or west exposure
- Lawns, particularly south-facing slopes and strips near driveways and sidewalks where reflected heat dries things faster
- Anything under a roof overhang, which receives no natural precipitation at all
That last one catches people out constantly. Foundation plantings under eaves are in a permanent rain shadow.
How to do it
When. Roughly once or twice a month through the dry stretches, on a day when the air temperature is above about 40°F and the soil is not frozen. Water mid-day so it soaks in before overnight freezing.
How. The sprinkler system is blown out, so this is a hose-and-nozzle or soaker-hose job. Disconnect and drain the hose afterwards every single time, or you will split a hose bib.
How much. Deep and slow beats fast and shallow. For trees, water out at the drip line rather than against the trunk — that is where the absorbing roots are. Let it soak in rather than running off across frozen ground.
Skip it when there has been genuine soaking precipitation, or when the ground is frozen solid.
The rest of the winter landscape list
- Mulch around trees and shrubs moderates soil temperature and slows moisture loss. Keep it back from trunks, and keep it away from the house itself for the wildfire reasons covered elsewhere on this blog.
- Wrap young, thin-barked trees to prevent sunscald — the damage that occurs when winter sun warms bark on the south-west side during the day and it refreezes at night. Remove wraps in spring.
- Prune before wind season, not after. Deadwood and cracked limbs are what come down in a Chinook.
- Brush heavy snow off shrubs gently, and leave ice alone — trying to break ice off branches does more damage than the ice.
The payoff
Winter watering is perhaps an hour a month, a handful of times over the season. Against it, the cost of replacing a mature evergreen — or of re-establishing a lawn that came out of winter dead in patches — is considerable.
It is the cheapest landscape insurance available here, and it is the single most commonly skipped task in Colorado Springs yards.
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