How to Protect Your Plants Over Winter (Without Bubble-Wrapping Your Entire Yard)

Winter in Georgina doesn’t play around. One minute you’re sipping cider in a cozy sweater; the next, the wind is trying to rearrange your face and your shrubs are wondering what life choices brought them here.

If you garden in Canadian growing zone 5, you already know the drill: cold snaps, freeze–thaw cycles, windburn, and enough ice to build your own backyard sculpture park. But with the right winter protection methods, you can help your trees, shrubs, perennials, and roses survive the season like the hardy Canadians they are.

Let’s break down why winter protection matters, what to protect, how to do it properly, and what not to do unless you want a very expensive lesson come spring.

 

Why Protect Your Plants Over Winter?

Plants are tough… but only to a point. Winter protection is about helping them get through:

1. Freeze–Thaw Cycles 

Our charming Southern Ontario winters love to warm up just enough to trick plants into thinking spring has arrived—then smack them with -20°C two days later. Soil expands and contracts, causing frost heave, which can pop shallow-rooted perennials and young shrubs right out of the ground like toast from a toaster.

2. Windburn

Winter winds are moisture thieves. Evergreens and broadleaf shrubs like rhododendrons dry out, turn bronze, curl, or burn because they lose moisture faster than they can replace it.

3. Temperature Fluctuations

The cold isn’t the only issue; it’s the inconsistency. Plants protected from temperature swings have fewer winter injuries and less dieback.

4. Hungry Wildlife

Deer, rabbits, and voles see your dormant plants as a winter buffet. Young trees and fruiting shrubs are often hit the hardest.

5. Salt & Sun

Road salt can scorch plants in roadside gardens, and winter sun can cause bark cracking on young trees—especially maples, fruit trees, and ornamental trees with thin bark.

Do All Plants Need Protection?

No — and that’s great news for anyone who doesn't want to spend their entire November tucking in plants like they’re putting toddlers to bed.

Plants That Usually Don’t Need Extra Help in Zone 5

• Mature, established trees
• Hardy shrubs (dogwood, ninebark, spirea, potentilla, hydrangea paniculata, lilac)
• Herbaceous perennials that naturally die back (hosta, daylily, coneflower, phlox, astilbe, sedum, etc.) 

These guys have been around the block and know how to take a Canadian winter punch. 

Plants That Benefit From Winter Protection

• Newly planted trees & shrubs (first 1–3 winters)
• Evergreens (cedar, yew, boxwood, rhododendron)
• Tender perennials
• Roses (all types, but especially hybrid teas, floribundas, and standards/tree roses)
• Plants in exposed spots (wind corridors, south-facing heat-reflective walls)
• Plants in raised beds
• Young Japanese maples and thin-barked ornamental trees
• Anything the deer have decided tastes good this year 

Why Location Matters 

Where a plant is growing can make it more vulnerable. For example:

• South-facing beds: warm sun + sudden evening freeze = bark splitting
• North-facing beds: longer frost periods
• Wind tunnels: evergreen desiccation
• Low spots: cold air pools
• Near the road: salt damage
• Raised planters: roots exposed to cold on all sides 

Just like real estate, plant survival is all about location, location, location.

 

How to Properly Protect Trees, Shrubs, Perennials & Roses Over Winter

Let’s break it down by category:

Trees

1. Young Trees Need Tree Guards 

Wrap the trunks of young trees (especially maples, ornamental trees, and fruit trees) with white spiral tree guards or paper tree wrap.

White is key — it reflects the sun and prevents southwest injury, a type of bark cracking caused by temperature swings.

Remove the wrap in spring.

2. Mulch the Base (But Not Like a Volcano)

Apply 2–4" of mulch around the base — but keep it away from the trunk.

Mulch helps:

• • Regulate soil temperature
  • Prevent frost heave
  • Protect young roots 

Do not build mulch volcanoes. Volcanoes kill trees. No exceptions.

3. Protect from Wildlife

If deer have your garden on speed dial:

• • Install temporary snow fencing or wire cages around young trees
  • Use hardware cloth around the base to stop mice/voles from chewing bark

Shrubs

1. Burlap for Evergreens 

Cedar, yew, juniper, boxwood, and rhododendron benefit from burlap screens or wraps — but don’t wrap tightly like a mummy, unless you’re trying to create a humidity trap. 

Correct method:

• • Put up stakes
  • Attach burlap to the stakes (not directly on the foliage)
  • Create a “wind wall” to stop moisture loss

2. Anti-Desiccant Sprays (Optional but Helpful)

Products like Wilt-Pruf can help broadleaf evergreens retain moisture. Apply on a mild day above 5°C.

3. Mulch for Root Protection

Mulch around the base of tender shrubs to insulate the root zone.

 

Perennials

1. Cut Back (Most of Them) 

Most perennials benefit from being cut back after a hard frost, but some provide winter interest or food for wildlife (like coneflower, rudbeckia, ornamental grasses). You can leave those standing until spring.

2. Mulch to Stop Frost Heaving

Apply 2–3" of mulch once the ground freezes. Mulch keeps the soil consistently cold — the opposite of what most people assume!

3. Don’t Cover in Plastic

Plastic traps moisture, freezes solid, and causes rot. Perennials do NOT enjoy suffocating under a tarp.

Roses

Ah yes, roses — the divas of the plant world. Beautiful, dramatic, and a little needy in winter.

1. When to Start Protecting 

Late November in Georgina, when the ground is starting to freeze and temperatures consistently sit below zero.

2. How to Protect Roses 

Shrub roses (e.g., Knock Out, Canadian Explorer)

Just mound 8–12” of soil or compost over the crown. That’s it. They’re Canadian—they’ve got this. 

Hybrid teas, floribundas, and English roses

These need the full treatment:

• • Cut back long canes to prevent winter whipping
  • Tie canes loosely together
  • Mound 12” of soil/compost over the crown
  • Add evergreen boughs for extra insulation
  • Optionally use a rose collar 

Standard/tree roses

These are the most vulnerable.

• • Loosely wrap the stem with burlap
  • Mound heavy soil around the graft at the base
  • Wrap the top (graft head) in burlap and fill with leaves or straw
  • Cage with wire if deer are an issue

 

What Not to Use for Winter Protection 

Let’s save some lives here:

Plastic tarps

• • Moisture traps. Rot machines. Frost magnets. Just don’t.

Black landscaping fabric

• • Heats up too much on sunny days and freezes rock solid at night.

Garbage bags

• • Same issue — plus they collapse on plants and suffocate branches.

Bubble wrap

• • Great for shipping packages, terrible for plants.

Rocks on top of roots

• • People do this and I will never understand why.

Tightly wrapping shrubs

• • This traps moisture, encourages fungal growth, and creates the horticultural version of a steam room.

Other Winter-Protection Tips You'll be Glad you Know

1. Water Thoroughly Before the Ground Freezes 

Well-hydrated plants overwinter far better than dry ones — especially evergreens. 

2. Don't Fertilize After August 

Late fertilizing encourages new growth that will die off in winter. 

3. Snow Is Free Insulation 

A natural snow blanket protects roots beautifully. Don’t shovel salty, dirty road snow onto your beds — but clean snow? Fantastic. 

4. Tie Up Upright Evergreens 

Heavy snow can splay out cedars and junipers. Tie them gently with twine in a loose spiral. 

5. Don’t Rush Spring Cleanup 

Leave protection in place until danger of late frost passes — usually late April in Georgina.

 

Protect Smart, Not Hard

So there you have it, winter protection isn’t about smothering your plants or spending your entire November wrestling with burlap like you’re on an episode of “The Great Canadian Wrap-Off.” It’s about strategically helping the plants that need it—young ones, tender ones, and those in exposed or difficult areas—while letting your hardy, established shrubs and perennials do what nature designed them to do. 

A little prep now means:

• fewer dead branches in spring
• less winter dieback
• less rodent damage
• better flowering
• happier plants
• and a MUCH happier gardener 

If you want help properly protecting your plants this winter, or you’re not sure what needs extra TLC, stop by Georgina Garden Centre — your friendly neighbourhood Zone 5 experts who love a good winter rant as much as we love a healthy spring garden.

Happy gardening!