Our Plum Tree Wasn't Winterized

Not a pretty sight this morning as I set out to shovel our sidewalk and was faced with our plum tree's demise. We've enjoyed five summers of plums, against the odds, and will miss this tree. We also lost two of our three birches. Seriously thinking about planting native trees to replace them. This year's winter has made it clear why we don't have serious orchards around here. Some varieties of apples do fine, but that's about it. My son thought that if we had shaken the branches during or after each dump, we might have saved the tree. But, who knows? I think we would have had to stay up all night. This was heavy snow.
We had a warming trend for a couple of hours this afternoon, and I can see the pavement in our driveway. Also saw daffodils poking through the snow by the big rock on the Quincy High campus. Spring is still trying to arrive. However, the forecast is for another big dump over the next 24 hours. If things look gloomy when I get up tomorrow morning, I'll dig into my spring wildflower archive again:)