Every spring, Kitchener-Waterloo homeowners discover the same unpleasant surprise: brown strips of dead grass along the driveway, crushed perennial beds, and salt-burned cedars. Most of this damage is entirely preventable with some simple fall preparation before the first snowfall arrives. Here's how to protect your landscaping investment through the winter.
Marking Garden Beds Before Snow Season
The most important thing you can do to protect your plants during snow removal is also the simplest: mark all bed edges, raised planters, and landscaping features before the first snowfall covers them.
Once snow falls, the visual boundary between your driveway and the garden bed beside it disappears completely. A snow blower or plow operated in low visibility conditions will push snow wherever there appears to be clear space — which, if your bed edge isn't marked, is directly into your flower beds and perennial gardens.
Bed Marking Options
- Driveway marker stakes: The most effective option. Orange or yellow fibreglass stakes (typically 90–120 cm tall) are specifically designed for winter driveway marking. They flex rather than break when hit by a snowblower, and their bright colour is visible even during nighttime snow clearing. Install them at the edge of all beds and along the boundary between your lawn and hard surfaces.
- Wood stakes with reflective tape: A DIY alternative. 1x1 or 1x2 lumber cut to 90 cm with reflective tape wrapped around the top makes an effective and inexpensive marker. Not as impact-resistant as commercial fibreglass stakes, but adequate for most residential use.
- String lines: Running a bright-coloured string between anchor stakes at bed edges provides a visible boundary for both you and any contractors. The limitation is that string can be obscured by deep snow or damaged by equipment.
Install markers before the first snowfall in late October or early November. The small investment in a set of driveway markers pays back quickly in saved landscape repair costs.
Pro Tip: If you use a snow removal contractor, walk the property with them in early November (before snow arrives) and point out all garden beds, irrigation heads, and landscape features you want protected. Professional contractors like D&D Home Services mark property edges as part of their onboarding process, but the walk-through ensures nothing gets missed.
How Salt Damages Your Lawn and Plants
The brown, dead grass strips along driveways and sidewalks that appear every spring are the most visible evidence of salt damage. Understanding the mechanism helps you take effective preventive action.
Osmotic Stress
Plants absorb water through osmosis — water moves from areas of lower salt concentration (in the soil) into areas of higher concentration (inside the plant roots). When road salt contaminates soil at high concentrations, this gradient reverses. Salt draws water out of plant root cells rather than allowing uptake. The plant effectively dehydrates even when soil moisture is present, producing the characteristic burned, brown appearance called salt injury or salt burn.
Lawn grass is particularly susceptible. The brown strips typically appear 1–2 metres from the road or driveway edge — the zone where salt spray and salt-laden meltwater concentrates. In heavy winters with frequent salting, these brown strips can be several metres wide.
Soil Damage
Beyond direct plant injury, road salt damages soil structure. Sodium ions displace calcium and magnesium in the soil, disrupting the balanced mineral composition that healthy soil requires. High sodium soils become compacted, lose their structure, and have reduced water infiltration — meaning water pools rather than draining and aerating the root zone. This soil damage can persist for several years after salt use is reduced.
Which Plants Are Most Vulnerable
- Lawn grass: Highly vulnerable, especially Kentucky bluegrass and fescue common in KW lawns.
- Cedars and arborvitae: Particularly susceptible to salt spray on their foliage; driveway-side hedges commonly show browning on the exposed face.
- Boxwood: Salt-sensitive; can show significant damage from spray and soil salt accumulation.
- Hostas and daylilies: Tolerant of moderate salt levels but can be damaged with heavy application near their root zone.
- Most perennials: Moderately vulnerable; the dormancy of winter provides some protection since uptake is reduced when plants aren't actively growing.
- Established trees: Generally more tolerant due to deep root systems and larger size, but can show tip burn on lower branches exposed to spray.
Strategic Snow Piling: Where Snow Goes Matters
Where removed snow is deposited has major implications for your lawn and garden. A snow pile that melts in spring releases all its accumulated salt content into a concentrated area — potentially delivering a season's worth of salt damage in a short period as the melt percolates into the soil.
Avoid These Piling Locations
- Directly on or adjacent to garden beds, particularly beds with evergreens or perennials
- Against the trunk of trees (the concentrated melt and soil compaction can damage tree root zones)
- On lawn areas where you want quick spring greening — salt-laden snow piles create the worst spring brown patches
Better Snow Piling Strategy
- Open lawn area away from beds: The large open lawn area between beds is the best piling zone. Salt disperses over a larger area on melting and dilutes more effectively.
- Corner accumulation spots: Designate consistent accumulation corners of your property that aren't near sensitive plantings. Consistent piling in the same location each winter allows you to prepare that area — perhaps avoiding planting there, or choosing salt-tolerant lawn alternatives.
- Consider drainage: Avoid piling where meltwater from the pile will flow directly toward beds or basements. A gentle slope away from the house and toward a lawn area is ideal.
Protecting Shrubs and Hedges from Salt Spray
Evergreen shrubs along driveways — especially cedars and arborvitae used as privacy hedges — face two distinct threats: salt spray from vehicles and snowblowers, and salt-contaminated meltwater flowing into their root zone from the driveway.
Burlap Wrapping
Burlap wrapping is the most effective protection against salt spray for shrubs and hedges adjacent to high-salt areas. Wrapping creates a physical barrier that prevents salt-laden mist from reaching the foliage. It also provides wind protection that helps prevent winter burn (desiccation) on evergreen foliage.
Install burlap wrapping in late November, once plants have gone into dormancy but before significant snowfall. Wrap loosely enough to allow air circulation — tight wrapping can trap moisture and cause fungal issues. Remove the burlap promptly in spring (April) to prevent shading the new growth.
For boxwood and other broadleaf evergreens, burlap tents (a frame of stakes with burlap attached on the sides facing traffic or the road) work better than wrapping, as they allow more air circulation.
Anti-Desiccant Sprays
Anti-desiccant sprays (sold as "Wilt-Pruf" or similar products) coat evergreen foliage with a waxy film that reduces moisture loss over winter. They also provide some protection against salt spray adhesion on leaves. Apply in late November when temperatures are above 5°C, and reapply in February or March if there's been significant rain or the foliage looks dry.
Spring Lawn Recovery After Salt Damage
Despite best efforts, most Ontario lawns show some salt damage by spring. The good news is that most lawn damage is recoverable with the right approach.
Flush With Water
The first step is diluting and flushing accumulated salt from the soil. As soon as the ground thaws in April, run a sprinkler or irrigation system over salt-damaged areas for extended periods to leach salt downward through the soil profile. This works best when soil drainage is good — water must move through the soil, carrying salt with it, rather than sitting on the surface.
Gypsum to Counter Sodium
Agricultural gypsum (calcium sulfate) is one of the most effective soil amendments for salt damage recovery. The calcium in gypsum displaces sodium ions from the soil particles, allowing the sodium to be leached away. Apply gypsum at 2–4 kg per square metre of affected area in early spring and water in thoroughly. Repeat in fall for severely affected areas.
Overseeding
Once salt has been flushed and gypsum applied, overseed any bare or thinned lawn areas in May when soil temperatures are consistently above 10°C. Use a mix appropriate for your shade/sun conditions and mow short before seeding to ensure seed-to-soil contact.
Working With Your Snow Removal Contractor
If you use a professional snow removal service, clear communication about your landscaping priorities before the season starts makes a significant difference to outcomes. Don't assume your contractor knows where all your beds are, which shrubs are fragile, or where you don't want snow piled.
D&D Home Services asks clients about landscape priorities during our onboarding process for seasonal contracts. Before the first snowfall, we document bed locations, note any fragile plantings, and establish preferred snow accumulation zones for each property. This documentation is used by our operators throughout the season, even in the middle of the night after a heavy snowfall when visibility may be limited.
If you have a new contractor this season, send them photos of your property in fall showing bed locations, walkway edges, and any features (irrigation heads, garden statues, low curbing) that could be damaged. A good contractor welcomes this information.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ Mark bed edges with stakes before first snow — without markers, beds are invisible under snow and easily damaged.
- ✓ Salt causes osmotic stress in plants; grass along driveways is most vulnerable to the brown spring strips.
- ✓ Strategic snow piling matters — avoid piling on garden beds, beside tree trunks, or where melt concentrates salt runoff.
- ✓ Wrap cedars and boxwood with burlap to protect from salt spray; install in November, remove in April.
- ✓ Spring recovery: flush with water, apply gypsum, overseed thin areas in May.
- ✓ Walk through your property with your contractor before the season and document bed locations and sensitive areas.
D&D Home Services takes landscape protection seriously on every snow removal contract in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, and Guelph. Contact us to discuss seasonal service for your property.
