Summer Heat and Your Landscape: Why Raleigh-Area Trees & Shrubs Need More Than Water
A beautiful landscape is an investment in your home. Mature trees, established shrubs, flowering ornamentals, and carefully designed planting beds can take years to develop—and a stressful North Carolina summer can begin affecting them much faster than many homeowners realize.
Throughout Raleigh, Wake Forest, Youngsville, Rolesville, Cary, Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon, Louisburg, Franklinton, Garner, Durham, and surrounding Triangle communities, summer brings a challenging combination of high temperatures, humidity, periods of heavy rain, dry spells, compacted soil, and increased insect and disease pressure.
When an ornamental tree or shrub begins looking thin, scorched, discolored, or generally unhealthy, adding more water is not always the answer.
Understanding why the plant is struggling is where professional plant health care becomes important.
What Summer Heat Does to Ornamental Trees and Shrubs
Trees and shrubs naturally lose moisture through their leaves. During extended periods of heat, the demand for water increases while the soil surrounding the roots may become increasingly dry.
Signs of summer stress can include:
- Wilting or curling leaves
- Brown or scorched leaf edges
- Premature leaf drop
- Thinning foliage
- Branch tip dieback
- Yellowing or discoloration
- Reduced growth
- Increased insect activity
- A shrub or tree that simply looks less vigorous than surrounding plants
North Carolina State Extension recommends deep, less-frequent watering rather than frequent shallow watering for landscape plants. It also notes that woody ornamentals generally do poorly when subjected to either prolonged drought or extended periods of saturated soil. [Reference: NC State Extension guidance on woody ornamentals]
That distinction is especially important around the Triangle.
Our Piedmont region commonly has heavier clay soils. A property can experience drought stress during one stretch of summer and poor drainage following heavy thunderstorms shortly afterward. NC State notes that much of the Piedmont has high clay content, while compacted soils can further restrict how water and air move through the root zone.
Sometimes “Heat Stress” Is Not Just Heat Stress
One of the biggest mistakes in tree and shrub care is treating the symptom without identifying the cause.
A Japanese maple with scorched leaves may be dealing with heat and reflected sunlight.
An azalea with faded or stippled foliage could have insect pressure.
An evergreen turning brown may have a root, moisture, insect, planting-depth, or disease problem.
A declining tree near a driveway or newly constructed home could be struggling with soil compaction or limited root space.
NC State specifically notes that paved areas can increase reflected heat and create harsher growing conditions for landscape plants. Those conditions can also increase pest pressure on already-stressed trees.
This is why seeing brown leaves does not automatically mean, “Give it more water.”
Sometimes more water can actually make the problem worse.
Why Have a Certified Arborist Look at the Problem?
A Certified Arborist looks beyond the visible symptom.
At Advance Tree & Shrub, our Certified Arborist evaluates the plant along with the conditions surrounding it. That can include the foliage, branches, trunk, root flare, soil, drainage, planting location, sun exposure, surrounding hardscaping, insect activity, disease symptoms, and the history of the plant.
The goal is not to simply apply a treatment.
The goal is to determine what is causing the decline and what the plant actually needs.
The International Society of Arboriculture encourages an ongoing plant health care approach that includes inspection, proper mulching, fertilization when appropriate, pruning, and other maintenance throughout the life of a tree. Healthy mature trees should be viewed as assets worth maintaining rather than plants that receive attention only after severe decline occurs. [Proper Mulching Guide: ISA’s TreesAreGood Resource]
For homeowners with mature landscapes, specimen ornamentals, established screening plants, or significant investments in trees and shrubs, that level of diagnosis can be particularly valuable.
What Can Plant Health Care Include?
There is no single treatment that every landscape needs.
Advance Tree & Shrub offers specialized services based on what we find on the property, including:
Plant Health Inspections
Periodic inspections can identify developing insect, disease, soil, and environmental problems before the damage becomes severe.
Insect & Disease Management
Our Integrated Pest Management approach focuses on identifying the specific problem and treating when necessary rather than automatically applying products to every plant.
Diagnostic Sampling
Some problems cannot be confidently diagnosed visually. Sampling can help provide better information when disease, nutrient, soil, or pest problems need further identification.
Soil Management
Healthy foliage starts with healthy roots. Soil testing and customized soil management can address conditions affecting nutrient availability and root performance.
Root Invigoration & Vertical Mulching
Compacted soil can restrict air, water, and nutrient movement around roots. These services may be recommended to improve conditions in stressed root zones.
Root Collar Excavation
A tree planted too deeply—or buried beneath years of added soil and mulch—may have a hidden root flare or girdling roots. Carefully exposing the root collar can reveal problems that cannot be seen from above ground.
Ornamental Tree & Shrub Pruning
Selective pruning can improve structure, appearance, clearance, and plant health when performed at the appropriate time.
Advance Tree & Shrub also offers growth regulation, tree risk assessments, invasive plant control, and other specialized services depending on the needs of the property.
Plant Health Care Shouldn’t End When Summer Does
Summer is often when homeowners first notice plant problems. It should not be the only time trees and shrubs receive attention. A year-round plant health care strategy allows us to follow what is happening through the seasons.
Summer
Monitor heat and drought stress, insect pressure, disease activity, watering conditions, and overall plant performance.
Fall
Evaluate how plants handled summer, inspect root and soil conditions, plan appropriate soil treatments, consider planting opportunities, and prepare stressed plants for the cooler months.
Winter
With leaves off many deciduous trees, certain structural conditions become easier to evaluate. Winter can also be an appropriate time to plan pruning and other dormant-season services depending on the plant.
Spring
Monitor emerging growth, evaluate flowering and foliage, begin seasonal insect and disease management when needed, and address developing plant health concerns early.
The benefit is continuity.
Instead of starting over every time a plant looks unhealthy, we can better understand what has happened to the landscape over time.
Protect the Landscape You’ve Invested In
A mature Japanese maple, established holly screen, flowering dogwood, collection of hydrangeas, or carefully designed front landscape cannot always be quickly replaced when it begins to decline.
And replacement does not necessarily solve the underlying problem.
If the original plant struggled because of compacted soil, drainage, improper planting depth, root damage, excessive heat, or a recurring pest, the replacement may eventually experience the same issue.
Professional plant health care focuses on protecting the whole landscape investment, not simply reacting to individual symptoms.
If you live in Youngsville, Wake Forest, Raleigh, Rolesville, Louisburg, Franklinton, Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon, Cary, Garner, Durham, or another community within our Triangle service area, Advance Tree & Shrub can help you determine what your ornamental trees and shrubs need now—and develop a plan for healthier plants throughout the year.
Not Sure What Your Trees or Shrubs Need?
If you have a specific tree, shrub, insect, disease, or plant health concern, Advance Tree & Shrub offers free inspections for basic evaluations, treatment recommendations, and service estimates. [Contact us today!]
For homeowners looking for a more detailed evaluation of their property, our Certified Arborist consultation provides a closer look at plant health, site conditions, possible causes of decline, structural concerns, and long-term care recommendations.
Protecting your trees & shrubs from the ground up.