I know it disappointed my two year old daughter who asked me several times to make a snowman!
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Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
First Snowfall?
I'm not sure how this snowfall counts. Would it be the first one in Middle Tennessee? Would it even be enough to count? I'm not sure, I only know that we did not receive what our northern neighbors have been gifted with this December!
I know it disappointed my two year old daughter who asked me several times to make a snowman!
I know it disappointed my two year old daughter who asked me several times to make a snowman!
In the Cold Wet Snow
Today school was out, the roads were iced over, and the garden was draped in white. I always enjoy the one or two times each winter when our landscape is covered in snow. That's the great thing about living in Tennessee - or one of the great things - the mild winters! It will snow a couple times each year with usually no more than 1-4 inches. When it does snow 12-24 inches it doesn't last long and you're left wondering "did that really happen?" And around here we measure the snow in inches - not in feet! It's this type of situation that allows us to enjoy Old Man Winter when he comes to visit.
So here's what winter really looks like in Tennessee (although technically it isn't winter yet!)
We wake up to temperatures beyond cold, way beyond cold. My wireless weather station does a nice job of letting me know how cold our frost pocket really is. It's amazing how different our yard can be than what they say it is in our area on the news. These weather stations have really advanced a lot since we got ours (La Crosse Technology WS-1516-IT Professional Weather Center
@ Amazon).
When you actually get all dressed up in your winter weather gear here's what you see in the garden:
A red twig dogwood looks fantastic in the snow. In the early spring or late winter I'll trim back most of the stems and allow new growth to sprout up with its characteristic red bark color. Of course I'll make sure to propagate more than a few red twig dogwoods!
The vegetable garden is also covered with a layer of white snow. It looks so peaceful and organized right now!
Even though the temperatures inside my shed are staying 10-15 degrees warmer than the outside it is still dipping into the 20's. I don't have any heating system in there yet - one day maybe. For now it is protecting hardy plants that are in pots for next spring.
So here's what winter really looks like in Tennessee (although technically it isn't winter yet!)We wake up to temperatures beyond cold, way beyond cold. My wireless weather station does a nice job of letting me know how cold our frost pocket really is. It's amazing how different our yard can be than what they say it is in our area on the news. These weather stations have really advanced a lot since we got ours (La Crosse Technology WS-1516-IT Professional Weather Center
@ Amazon).When you actually get all dressed up in your winter weather gear here's what you see in the garden:
A Hemlock along the sideyard garden.
A red twig dogwood looks fantastic in the snow. In the early spring or late winter I'll trim back most of the stems and allow new growth to sprout up with its characteristic red bark color. Of course I'll make sure to propagate more than a few red twig dogwoods!
The paving stone patio looks very cool covered in snow.
Pink Muhly grass is poking it's leaves through the snow.
Ponytail grass (Nassella tenuissima) has its own interesting winter look.
The Powis Castle artemisia looks a little stressed out this time of year - it is the holidays afterall.
The vegetable garden is also covered with a layer of white snow. It looks so peaceful and organized right now!
Even though the temperatures inside my shed are staying 10-15 degrees warmer than the outside it is still dipping into the 20's. I don't have any heating system in there yet - one day maybe. For now it is protecting hardy plants that are in pots for next spring.
Are you walking in a Winter Wonderland yet?
Gumdrop the Snowman and Other Snow Fun
Though I have not told her, I have officially named my wife's snowman Gumdrop. You will see why when you look at the picture! The snow was dry and hard to pack. At least it was for a while, later in the day it melted some and snowmen of various shapes and sizes appeared through out the land as if they were heralding the coming of Frosty the Snowman himself on TV last night. So without further adieu here's Gumdrop!
Sledding was the other event of the morning. I pieced together a short slideshow of one sled ride. The Mother and Daughters Ride, enjoy!
Here's one of me and the girls on the slopes. The "sled" was the top of a plastic storage container. Since we don't get regular snow we don't have a "real" sled. It may not be pretty but it was fun!
Sledding was the other event of the morning. I pieced together a short slideshow of one sled ride. The Mother and Daughters Ride, enjoy!
Here's one of me and the girls on the slopes. The "sled" was the top of a plastic storage container. Since we don't get regular snow we don't have a "real" sled. It may not be pretty but it was fun!
Check out tomorrow's post for Seed Sundays!
Snow Day Dawning
It was a moment of pure beauty early this morning. We awoke to find the landscape covered in snow and with a winter wonderland waiting before us. I was out just before dawn to catch the sunrise and take some pictures in a setting that I very rarely get to photograph. I'm especially pleased with the first picture. It's a large evergreen on one corner of our house covered in snow. It helps to shade my corner shade garden.
The next few photographs follow the progression of the sunrise from our back porch. We're lucky to have a view of the rising sun year round from our backyard. Enjoy the pictures!
Later in the day we went sledding and my wife built a snowman. I'll try to share some of those pictures tomorrow!
The next few photographs follow the progression of the sunrise from our back porch. We're lucky to have a view of the rising sun year round from our backyard. Enjoy the pictures!
Later in the day we went sledding and my wife built a snowman. I'll try to share some of those pictures tomorrow!
The First Snowfall
Tonight Middle Tennessee is resting peacefully beneath a blanket of snow. Bitter cold set in here as it has in much of the eastern United States. With the cold came swirling winds and all this white stuff. So far this winter cold we've been experiencing is about 20 degrees below the normal averages for our region. December has been extremely cold! What I find interesting is that two years ago on December 12th we also had our first snowfall of 2008 (more on the 2008 December Snowfall).
I'll take more pictures tomorrow when I actually go out in the snow but here's a glimpse of what we've had so far! I also posted a couple webcam videos of the snowfall on The Home Garden Facebook page - not extremely riveting videos I'll admit - but snowfall is always exciting to see the first time each year!
I'll take more pictures tomorrow when I actually go out in the snow but here's a glimpse of what we've had so far! I also posted a couple webcam videos of the snowfall on The Home Garden Facebook page - not extremely riveting videos I'll admit - but snowfall is always exciting to see the first time each year!
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| On the front porch. |
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| The Blue Garden Shed |
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| The Patio under snow |
On Tomorrow's Garden Agenda:
Sledding!
Hot Chocolate
First Snowfall in Tennessee
For the last part of my Winter Garden series I have a special treat planned. I arranged for snow to fall upon Middle Tennessee so I could illustrate how great a winter garden looks! OK, of course I'm joking but snow is very cool to look at on the garden (please forgive the pun). The weather forecast called for chances of freezing precipitation but we didn't expect to have nearly 2 inches. For you northern gardeners who might be reading this and thinking "2 inches, what's the big deal?" Tennessee just doesn't get much snow. When we do it's not usually in December. Enough talk, let's look at snow!
On this silent night you would drive up to our yard and the first thing that might catch your attention is the snow covered Bradford pear tree in the front. While I'm not proud of the pear (bad tree to plant) it's berries and branches certainly look great all covered with snow. It's about the only time it will be covered in white without it's horrible smell drifting on the wind!As you turn toward the right of the tree you might casually glance at our house snugly nestled below the road.
If you continue toward the house you will see our Winter Garden with the special snow covering I "ordered." Past the winter garden and against the house is a nandina than normally reaches about a foot below the roofline. It's bent over under the weight of the snow.
Here's another view of the newly planted Winter Garden all dressed in it's winter finery.
The view from our front porch toward the sidewalk reveals perennials covered in snow that were not trimmed back. I prefer to wait until spring to do that chore. 
The crabapple in the front porch garden isn't especially showy this time of year. It's is a three year old tree from Arbor Day that has grown to about 10 feet tall. The deer munched on the lower branches which forced the growth to go upwards. Hopefully this spring I can prevent further incursions into this garden bed and allow the crabapple enough time to fill out with some foliage.
Can you guess what these two snow laden plants might be? If you guessed rosemary you would be correct! These two plants flank an entryway to our front sidewalk from the yard. We really like rosemary in the garden! There's a quick view of our winter wonderland. It's all dark now, but you can expect some more cool shots tomorrow! Stay warm!
The First Snowfall of 2011
Technically my title is completely incorrect! We did have snow in January and February but this is the first snowfall of the coming winter season. And technically this isn't even officially winter yet. I'm just breaking all the rules for this post! I'm going wild!
Anyway...yesterday we had a light snowfall. It was the kind of snow that was so wet that when contact was made with the ground it quickly melted into regular old H20. What snow coverage we had on the grassy areas didn't last long as the air temps were too warm to maintain the frozen precipitation. Despite its brevity the snow was pretty!
I suspect we'll have more snow this year than in previous years. I've heard our winter I supposed to be wetter! Good thing I bought sleds!
Anyway...yesterday we had a light snowfall. It was the kind of snow that was so wet that when contact was made with the ground it quickly melted into regular old H20. What snow coverage we had on the grassy areas didn't last long as the air temps were too warm to maintain the frozen precipitation. Despite its brevity the snow was pretty!
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| Snow on pot of pak choy. |
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| Snow on deck. |
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| Snow on chives and blue fescue pot. |
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| Snow on pyracantha branch. Almost looks like ice. |
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| The backyard with snow. |
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| The Blue Garden Shed with snow! |
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| Grassy area shielded from snow by a butterfly bush. |
I suspect we'll have more snow this year than in previous years. I've heard our winter I supposed to be wetter! Good thing I bought sleds!
Have you had your first snowfall yet?
Encased in Ice (Tennessee Snow Storm of 2010)
They were right! There, let it be said that the weather predictors and prognosticators said we were going to have snow and we did. Unfortunately the manner of snow and the amount of snow differed from what the forecast originally said (which was 2-3 inches at one point). Currently we have between 4-6 inches of snow with a nice smooth layer of ice on top just to make things interesting! The ice isn’t good for getting around town and we’ve been stuck at home (nothing new since we are boring people and don’t do much anyway) watching the snow fall. What the ice is good for though is pretty cool (sorry for the pun). Sledding was the main attraction of the day with our slope in the backyard becoming a valuable asset. Several neighbors joined us outside on the hill at various times to ride down my version of the Olympic bobsled! (or was it the luge? I always get those mixed up.)
The other really cool thing that ice is great for is photography. I caught some really nice ice pictures today particularly of the ornamental grasses. I found it amazing how the ice built up on the stems of the branches and trees and in some cases completely encasing them. It was almost like the world was made of glass.
The ice also covered our structures and made interesting shapes as icicles were created on...
The cold temperatures will be with us until Monday but no more accumulation is expected. That’s probably a good thing – I think we have enough!
The other really cool thing that ice is great for is photography. I caught some really nice ice pictures today particularly of the ornamental grasses. I found it amazing how the ice built up on the stems of the branches and trees and in some cases completely encasing them. It was almost like the world was made of glass.
Yoshino Cherry
Red Maple
Sassafras
The ice also covered our structures and made interesting shapes as icicles were created on...
The Birdbath
The Arbor
and a Birdfeeder
By far the most interesting shapes created by the ice were on the ornamental grasses.
The ‘Shenandoah’ Panicum virgatum could be seen as an ice sculpture from far away.
I found the Mexican Feather Grass or Nassella tenuissima very interesting!
%201-2010-1%5B7%5D.jpg "Mexican Feather Grass Encased in Ice (Stipa - Nassella tenuissima) 1-2010-1")
But by far the coolest picture of the day has to the the Muhlenbergia capillaris or Muhly Grass. The little beads of ice resemble beads of glass.
%201-2010-1%5B6%5D.jpg "Muhlenbergia capillaris encased in ice (Pink Muhly Grass) 1-2010-1")
The cold temperatures will be with us until Monday but no more accumulation is expected. That’s probably a good thing – I think we have enough!