Naturally Speaking

Icy coating all that is outdoors can be a daunting sight.  But it can also have a calming influence.  Instead of twigs, wires and metal being sharp-appearing and pointy, the ends of these objects tend to be rounded like a deer antler in velvet. 
An added attraction, quite exquisite, is the see-through nature of the ice that exhibits a twig, bud, arrested flower opening and other artistic features of plant branches, including lenticels, leaf scars and bud scales.
Generally there is little harm to the plant.  Ice can be an insulating factor, even though it appears hard and cold.  It’s only the weighty nature of the coating that is harmful and may snap various-sized branches from their support.
Nature put the ice there.  Allow nature to remove it.  Shaking a branch can cause damage unless the sun has started to loosen the coating.  In time, even with freezing temperatures, sublimation will begin removing the ice, changing it directly into water vapor.
Look and see, then let it be.