A tree?

Just kidding, hope someone can give some good suggestions! That should be interesting to see the solutions.

I live in Northern Utah, not sure where you live, may not get as much snow as you . . . we do pile it up to about 3 feet , sometimes 4.

I have succulents planted there that do shockingly well. Not ALL succulents of course. I have euphorbia miphrates, dragon's blood (don't know scientific name), and a sedum that do very well. Another succulent called cape blanco.

Will try to post a photo.

Laurie

Here just about anything and everything survives. Snow is a good cover and insulator. We lose things during winters when it's ferociously cold for extended periods and there's no appreciable snow cover. I had a constant four to five feet of snow on the ground from the Thanksgiving blizzard (and more just about every three days after that) until it all disappeared for good in early in May.

We're a bit behind the rest of the country, but catching up - Northern Lights azaleas, flowering almonds, viburnum, and lilacs are just starting to bloom. Bleeding hearts started with the forget-me-nots and Johnny Jump ups. Looked around the gardens briefly and nothing seems to be missing except the balloon flowers which are always the last to emerge. Iris - Siberian and bearded - nepetas, Russian sage, peonies, Veronicas, salvias, daylilies, hosta, trollius, dianthus deltoids, phlox subulata, true tiger lilium, ostrich ferns are all fine.

Isn't snow actually an insulator against colder temps? Won't it help protect plants that would otherwise be exposed to even colder air?

Yes, it is a good insulator. Under a thick (sometimes not even several feet thick) blanket of snow, temps will remain somewhat at a constant despite the fact that the air temp can be much lower or fluctuate.

I would think that falling snow covering shrubs might be considerably different from snow pushed over them by a plow.

Witch Hazel, It will even bloom when totally covered with snow.

Years ago we had a significant snowfall that lasted all through a frigid winter. Come spring, everything that was snow-covered bloomed while anything that was exposed to the air did not. Snow is an excellent insulator and should not be removed from plants.

Linda