The Snow That Never Melts

Some people might enjoy snow that never melts. I’m not one of them, though. This has been the winter that never ends, the winter that keeps on giving...and apparently it will give more tomorrow with an expected 1-3 inches of more snow. I can’t help but wonder what this is doing to my plants. This is the coldest and one of the snowiest winters I can remember. Will the more tender of my perennials survive? Will my shrubs survive the mountains of snow and ice that keep getting piled on them?

I wandered the yard as best as I could in the snow this afternoon to survey any damage. I tried to hurry-up about it because I am still recovering from a stupid sinus infection that I got when I had the flu last week. I’ll probably get scolded by loved ones after this post since I promised I was going to stay inside today and rest.

I have two tall planters and three smaller ones just outside the screened-in back porch that I put there this past year once I discovered that there was gravel there and digging was impossible. The three small planters have boxwood in them. They are laden with ice and snow right now.

I also have four or five boxwood that line the path that leads to the back garden gate. These boxwood were some of the first things I planted when we moved here, so they are well-established. At least three of them have tops that are flattened by snow. I am tempted to try to clear these off, but they are so frozen in that I am afraid I would do more harm than help.

I have three other boxwoods in the L-shaped area by the greenhouse that I call my Secret Garden. These are a different variety and have been here for about four years or more. They are almost totally flattened by ice and snow. Ugh, it’s heartbreaking. I hope they make it.

I will admit that when the snow isn’t suffocating my shrubs, it can be pretty. Like here with the dried sedum flowers in my Flower Garden.

And it is does look kind of neat hanging on the dried hydrangea flowers.

The Kitchen Garden should be no worse for wear since almost everything that I plant in here are annual vegetables and flowers that get planted from seed in the early spring. The boxwoods at the entrance to the Kitchen Garden are actually looking ok.

The four boxwoods that surround the standard rose are a bit flattened, but not as bad as the others in the yard.

This was taken from the back corner looking towards the Flower Garden and shed.

This was taken as you enter the backyard through the garden gate. You can see the icicles hanging from the shed roof.

No feathered friends in the birdhouse right now, but they were happy that I put out more birdseed today.

That was about the extent of my ramblings in the yard this afternoon. Now it’s time to get back to resting and recovering.