Expert advice to reduce road salt damage to plants

You don't have to live by the sea for your plants to experience salt damage. If you're in a region that uses salt on its roads in the winter, that salt can be carried to plants by wind or splashed on them by fast-moving cars. Here's what you need to do to avoid this problem.

Near roads or sidewalks that are salted frequently in winter, plant only salt-tolerant species, such as juniper, lilac, mugo pine, or rugosa rose. In high-traffic areas, plant medium-sized perennials from the list below, which won't obscure visibility.

Salt-tolerant plants:

• Akebia
• Anise hyssop
• Blue star
• Butterfly weed
• Coreopsis
• Crocus
• Daffodil
• Dusty miller,
• Euphorbia
• Geranium
• Lavender
• Lilac
• Morning glory
• Ornamental grasses
• Petunia
• Smokebush
• Sweet alyssum
• Trumpet vine
• Verbena

In spring, as soon as the snow melts, thoroughly rinse salt off plants with a spray of water from a hose. Then flood the soil around the plants' root zones to leach out accumulated salt. From spring to fall you can brighten these beds with colourful annuals.

The first signs of salt damage are scorched, brown, crispy leaf margins. Another symptom of salt stress is wilting even though the soil is moist. Simply enriching the soil with organic matter will help buffer the effects of salt on plant roots.

To help water flow through the soil quickly, carrying away excess salt in the process, space plants widely. Generous spacing also aids in the rinsing of foliage, which happens naturally every time it rains. Allow elbow room between clump-forming plants like daylilies, and let low, sprawling plants like hardy geraniums fill the unplanted areas.

Many plants are sensitive to salt, which can dry out roots, damage leaves, and even kill the plant. But taking care to wash the salt away every spring and planting salt tolerant plants will help fight off damage caused over the winter.