Designing for Snow: How to Keep the Plow Guy from Wrecking Your Yard

Hello neighbors, Jeremy Klice here.

If you’re planning a landscape renovation this year, I have one question for you: Where is the snow going to go?

In some parts of the country, landscaping is designed for summer barbecues and spring blooms. In Jamestown, we have to design for January. If we don’t, your beautiful new landscape will likely turn into a casualty of our annual battle against the "white stuff."

Winter changes how your property works. It changes where you can walk, what you can see, and—most importantly—what gets buried. Here is how to design a yard that survives the plow.

Rule #1: The 20% Rule (Or, "Respect the Pile")

When you look at your driveway on a nice July afternoon, it’s easy to forget that in six months, it will be flanked by mini-mountain ranges.

You need to plan for snow storage. A good rule of thumb is to set aside 20% to 30% of your total plowed area just for stacking snow. If you have a 1,000-square-foot driveway, you need 200 to 300 square feet of "dead space" to put the snow.

Don't put the pile:

• Blocking your sightlines: You need to be able to see traffic when you pull out, not a 6-foot wall of ice.

• Against the house: When that pile melts, it’s going straight into your basement.

Rule #2: The "Plow Zone" is No Place for Evergreens

I see this heartbreak all the time. A homeowner plants a gorgeous row of Arborvitae or Boxwoods right along the edge of the driveway to look "statuesque." By March, they look like they went 12 rounds in a boxing match and lost.

Why? Two reasons:

1. The Weight: Evergreens hold onto snow. When the plow pushes heavy, wet slush against them, they splay open, crack, or snap.

2. The Salt: Salt spray from the road and driveway hits the foliage, drying it out and turning it brown—a nasty condition called winter burn.

The Solution: Plant "Quitters" In the "plow zone" (the first few feet off the driveway), you want plants that know when to quit. Use perennials that die back to the ground in the fall, like Hostas or Daylilies.

Because these plants are dormant and underground during winter, they don’t care if I stack 4 feet of snow on top of them. In fact, the snow acts as an insulator! When spring comes, the snow melts, and your hostas pop up fresh and undamaged. It’s nature’s perfect loophole.

Rule #3: Stake It Before You Break It

This is the easiest way to save your lawn (and my sanity). Before the first flake falls, mark your driveway boundaries with reflective stakes.

When everything is covered in white, the line between "Driveway" and "Expensive Kentucky Bluegrass" becomes invisible. Those stakes tell the plow driver (whether that’s me or you) exactly where to drop the blade. It prevents us from accidentally peeling back your sod like a carpet.

Design smart now, and you won’t be glueing branches back onto your bushes in April.

- Jeremy 🤙