 |
| Pink muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) in ice |
Yes, I have no doubt spring will get here eventually. Just not eventually enough for me. Last weekend when I was enjoying the balmy spring-like weather, I took some photos of my emerging bulbs. It gave me hope that spring would arrive soon. Then this past week we had another shot of ridiculous-for-us-southerners winter weather. While the nearest big city to us got several inches of snow, we got a heck of a lot of ice. That wouldn't have been so bad except that it stayed below freezing for three days. Our plants don't like that. :-)
 |
| Flowering quince buds caught in ice |
Fortunately, yesterday the sun reappeared, which caused me to rush outside to capture the stunning juxtaposition of sun and ice.
 |
| Ice reflections on trees |
Amazingly, we lost only minor limbs on some of the trees. I was very thankful for that.
 |
| Goldfinches (mostly) at feeders (from office window) |
What is it about cold weather that has the birds going crazy for food? I couldn't keep the feeders stocked fast enough for them.
 |
| Flame acanthus in ice |
I'm used to most of my herbaceous perennials dying to the ground every winter. But not to plants like parsley, chives and kale withering to nothing. Plant then replant I guess.
 |
| Suffering cactus pad (it's not supposed to be horizontal!) |
 |
| More ice reflections in trees |
But enough of all that misery. On to some excitement (at least for me!).
 |
| Hellebore bud |
This fall I planted two Lenten roses (
Helleborus orientalis). This may not be that exciting for some of you but I've never seen them growing around here. So I'm very excited that one of them is actually blooming. I took this photo before the big freeze but now there's two more buds and this one is almost open. I'll have to get another photo when they're all open. The cold didn't phase them a bit!
 |
| Narcissus |
I found this little flower last weekend. I don't remember planting it but I'm happy it's there (although today it looks a bit bedraggled).
 |
| Muscari neglectum |
All of the bulbs that were coming up last weekend seem pretty unphased by the cold. For the first time, I planted some Spanish bluebells and Southern grape hyacinths. Here's the grape hyacinth, which is supposed to be the true Southern one that grows wild in old homesteads. It's extremely tiny so I guess I'll have to wait a few years for a stunning display.
This weather has got me wondering if I need to start planting for Northern-type winters and Southern-type summers. Oy! I'm sitting tight, waiting for another winter chill later this week (more snow and wintry mix with lows in the teens again). But I know just around the corner is my spring.
This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.
