Snow protects your garden beds. Trees might need some help

Shoveling in single-digit temperatures after the colossal winter storm this weekend, I dumped mounds of snow onto my garden beds, knowing it would protect my trees, shrubs and dormant perennials.

When the ground repeatedly freezes and thaws, as it does over winter in cold climates, that can squeeze roots, seeds, bulbs, tubers and rhizomes right out of the earth. Once exposed, they can be killed off by cold, drying winds.

But snow cover provides a heavy blanket of winter mulch that insulates the soil, prevents heat from escaping and keeps soil temperatures from seesawing. And as it melts, snow will not only water your garden but fertilize it with plant-boosting nitrogen absorbed from the air on its way to earth.

It’s a perfect display of nature taking care of itself.

On the downside, the same heavy blanket that keeps plants warmly tucked in can spell disaster for evergreen trees like arborvitae and Leyland cypress. When wet snow accumulates on trees, its weight can bend, buckle or snap branches. And if you don’t remove it, it can permanently disfigure them.

We can help by gently knocking snow off branches with a long-handled broom. Under normal circumstances, I do this after the storm ends. But during extended snowfalls, I go out during the storm, as well, to keep on top of the accumulation. Trees are expensive, so I’d rather brave the elements than have to replace them.

When water or accumulated snow freezes into ice, however, it’s best to leave the branches be. Attempts to crack or knock ice off plants risk further damaging bark and other delicate plant parts. All we can do is allow it to melt naturally and hope for the best.

After removing snow from walkways and driveways, it’s good practice to apply rock salt to prevent ice from forming. But choosing a product can be confusing.

Magnesium chloride is the best choice, as it dissolves quickly to coat and melt ice, works in temperatures as cold as 10 degrees below zero Fahrenheit and is less likely to burn pets’ paws. It’s also the safest for your plants, which become exposed to the product via wind, soil runoff, melting snow and splashing slush, as well as deliberate snow dumping.

One drawback, however, is that magnesium chloride is also the most expensive of the commonly available ice-melt products. If your coverage area is so large that using it exclusively becomes too expensive, consider using it in areas adjacent to plants and where pets will be exposed. Then, opt for my second choice, calcium chloride, in less-trafficked areas and those away from lawns and gardens.

You’ll often see calcium chloride marketed as pet- and plant-safe, but it still can damage plants and irritate pets’ (and your own) paws. Wear gloves when handling it. If you must use it near plants, apply sparingly. And rinse pets’ paws after exposure.

As a gardener, you might recognize the chemical name of another type of rock salt, potassium chloride. Although it’s also a component of balanced fertilizers (the K in N-P-K ratios), the amounts needed to melt ice can actually harm or kill plants, so avoid using it as a deicer.

Sodium chloride is the cheapest of the bunch, but the worst choice for plants, pets and the environment. It can corrode cars, crack concrete, and poison wildlife, plants and trees.

When applying any ice-melt product, always use the least amount necessary, as they all have some potential to damage masonry. Applying a waterproofing sealant to driveways and walkways during warmer weather will help protect against ice-related cracks for several years.

Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

For more AP gardening stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/gardening.

Snow covers bergamot stalks in a garden after a winter storm in Westchester County, N.Y.,, on Jan 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Rubin)

Snow covers bergamot stalks in a garden after a winter storm in Westchester County, N.Y.,, on Jan 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Rubin)

A mound of snow insulates dormant sedums in a garden bed in Long Island, N.Y., after a winter storm. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Snow covers bergamot stalks in a garden after a winter storm in Westchester County, N.Y.,, on Jan 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Rubin)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Until quite recently, the prevailing image to outsiders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been male missionaries wearing white shirts and name tags, evoked by the hit Broadway show “The Book of Mormon.”

But another unofficial face of the male-led church has emerged in American pop culture: digitally savvy, female influencers, often seen sporting athleisure, a giant soda in hand — and varying degrees of adherence to church teachings.

These influencers have found an enthusiastic audience across the country, curious about their faith and families. Some explain the tenets of what's widely known as the Mormon church, but others bring attention to the rules they often break — drinking alcohol, having premarital sex and in one high-profile instance, a “soft-swinging” scandal that birthed the hugely popular Hulu reality series, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”

ABC sought to capitalize on that interest by casting “Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul in “The Bachelorette,” but recently had to scuttle the already filmed season after a video of a domestic violence incident surfaced.

These viral moments and “Mormon Wives” project a version of the faith that appears more progressive and lenient than church leadership and other Latter-day Saint influencers might like. “The internet really challenged the church’s ability to maintain its own narratives about itself,” said Nancy Ross, an associate professor at Utah Tech University who studies Mormon feminism.

The church has worked to distance itself from “Mormon Wives,” issuing a statement ahead of the first season’s premiere in 2024 without naming the show specifically. It said that some media portrayals of Latter-day Saint women resort to “stereotypes or gross misrepresentations that are in poor taste and have real-life consequences for people of faith.”

Camille N. Johnson, the president of the church’s Relief Society organization for women, said in an emailed statement that it’s important to seek out trusted sources of information about the church and its members in light of recent media attention.

“Millions of Latter-day Saint women around the world strive to live faith-filled lives grounded in a love for God and all of His children,” she said.

It would be impossible for the “Mormon Wives” cast to fully represent millions of women in the church. But they are not the only Latter-day Saint influencers online — nor are they the only ones with large followings.

Many are women in their early twenties who are married with young children. They post about young motherhood and experiences like buying a house before they turn 25. Lauren Yarro, a Latter-day Saint content creator and podcast host, said she can see this being a foreign image to some.

“Our culture is fascinating to an outsider, and I can understand why it would pull people in,” she said. “That Mormon timeline is intriguing to the rest of the world. I think most people innately have a desire for a happy marriage and a happy family life and we tend to create those in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

The beliefs and practices of church members have often been the subject of intense interest and scrutiny because of how they differ from other religions. Some of these include the belief that church leadership can receive revelations from God, or the practice of wearing garments under clothing that have deep religious significance.

Latter-day Saint influencers are not a new phenomenon, but they have found staying power by driving pop culture discourse and documenting their lifestyles. Many of them use content creation as a way to be stay-at-home parents while also generating income for their families. Several prominent creators live in Utah, the home of the church’s administrative and cultural hub, but there is a broad spectrum in terms of how much they bring their faith into their content.

While “Mormon Wives” and its controversial star, Paul, have been the recent high-profile drivers of public interest, the cast talks about the church only sparingly. Rosemary Avance, an assistant professor at Oklahoma State University whose research includes religious identity and digital media, said “there’s so little reference” to the cast's faith once people are hooked on the show from its title. Many cast members have left the church or are no longer active in it.

“It was clearly a marketing strategy on behalf of the people putting these shows together. They think that’ll draw people in, and it does,” she said. “It’s not like you have these women sitting down talking about their secret temple practices that they’re not supposed to speak about, or challenging the authority of the church in some way. They’re just not talking about it.”

Avance sees parallels between now and about 15 years ago, when Republican Mitt Romney was running for president and “The Book of Mormon” debuted on Broadway. At the time, people wanted to know “what’s going on behind the scenes in Mormonism,” she said.

“People think they know a lot about it (Mormonism), and they’ve heard a lot about it because there’s prominent stories and prominent people who are well-known and those narratives are circulated, but it’s almost always second-, third-hand,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know any Mormons and may never meet a Mormon, or if they have, they don’t know it, and so it’s what you’ve heard and the preconceptions you think you have about Mormonism.”

Creators like Yarro, who speak about their faith openly online and closely follow the church's teachings, said “Mormon Wives” does not feel representative of their experiences in the church or their lives in Utah. The Latter-day Saint content creators who spoke with The Associated Press emphasized they don't place fault on the individual cast members, but rather the production of the show and the way it Hollywoodizes their faith. Representatives for Hulu did not respond to a request for comment.

“The only thing I don’t like about what they do is sometimes they will play on things, twist things, use what is sacred to us as members of the church, and they’ll put it out and it feels like mockery to us,” said Shayla Egan, another Latter-day Saint content creator.

Some of the more devout members use their online platforms to respond to and course-correct more salacious social media content or “Mormon Wives” storylines they believe don't align with their understanding of church teachings or experiences.

Mimi Bascom, a Latter-day Saint content creator who says the mission behind her social media presence is to “show that members of the church are real people,” often makes videos responding to “Mormon Wives” clips. She finds the show to be a “net positive for our church” since it gives everyday members the opportunity to “share what we actually believe and get that more out there into the world,” she said.

Bascom, for one, had always prepared to serve on a mission but no longer could after getting married. Making content about the church has felt like a way she's “able to still live that out,” she said.

“We want to be missionaries and spread the good word of the Gospel,” she continued, “and so this is just another way we can do it.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

FILE - The sun sets behind the Mormon Temple, the centerpiece of Temple Square, in Salt Lake City, April 27, 2006. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac, File)

FILE - Jen Affleck, from left, Layla Taylor, Miranda McWhorter, and Jessi Draper Ngatikaura participate in Hulu's "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" photo call at The Rink at Rockefeller Plaza, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP, File)