Snow at last!

26 Jan '07 2:51 am

Well, it's arrived! Winter has visited the South-East of England and left its mark. On Tuesday night, the temperatures dropped significantly and we woke up on Wednesday to a nice sprinkling of snow on the ground. So, before I went to work, I took a few pictures, replenished my bird feeders and melted the ice in the bird bath.

I present my garden under snow...

26 Jan '07 3:00 am

Your garden looks enchanting in the snow. Maybe you could share some of it with Liza, who is wishing for some right now.

26 Jan '07 5:36 am

It is SO adorable, Bambi, this pure, white loveliness! Everything becomes so beautifully bright and shining! Have you seen your garden full of snow during midnight with all the lights off? It sure has a divine light! Everything so calm and silent... It is just awsome! When I was little, I used to think that snow has a very special smell...A sort of vanilla-like smell....Children....

I know how snow can overdo it sometimes, though... But only that much is a blessing for plants and humans! We only have to feed the birds...I just remember I had translated last winter something about how good the snow can be , when it does not become destructive out of excessive quantity ..Let'see..I think I must search a little in the Organic Gardening section...I found it !! It is called "Snow: the nutritious protector of our plants!" Here:

http://forums.mooseyscountrygarden.com/garden516.html

26 Jan '07 7:10 pm

Bambi-

What great pictures of your garden under its blanket of snow! It reminds me of my garden only a few weeks ago when we had snow here on Vancouver Island! The first snow is always so very special!! Everything is hushed except for the few brave birds that are out searching for seeds and other food, and, if you're in the right place, the stillness is punctuated by the "plop - plop - plop of snow falling from the tree branches.

What gets me is when the snow stays around too long (a week is enough for me!). Then is becomes dirty and slushy or else it freezes into ice that makes paths and roads hazardous, and almost impossible to shovel. When I was growing up in eastern Canada, I used to hate the month of March as that was when the snow was at its most awful, as well as when it would really begin to melt and the streets would be filled with mammoth puddles waiting for cars to roar through them and splash poor pedestrians!

Oh, yes, the first snow is wonderful, all Robert Frost and New Englandy, but old snow . . . dreadful!!

Cheers,

gordonf

26 Jan '07 11:28 pm

Bambi , I think Gordon is SO right , talking of the ..."bad" snow! I have experienced myself this sort of snow, both in Greece and in Belgium.

Greece is a country , that none could imagine snow apart from its Northern parts, where the temperatures can savagely fall down to -20 Celsius sometimes during Winter...And suddenly, during the last 15 years , snow has started falling in Central Greece, Athens in particular!! A huge shock to people , not used to snow! Traffic lights off, traffic accidents in the centers, schools closing! A really tragicomic situation! And recently, during the last 3 years, things got even worse: the snow has fallen in huge quantities even in the islands of the Aegean Sea! Even in the Southern island of Crete! Roofs have fallen, thousands of cars destroyed, whole side hills have slipped down on the main motor ways, villages were isolated for weeks , schools closed , the Army with its huge hellicopters in full action! A tragicomic madness again! The whole of Greece and the Greeks learned what it really means SNOW!

You are so right , dear Gordon, snow is lovely in small, ....romantic quantities!! And I LOVE this snowy photo of yours! It looks like black chocolate cake with lots of delicious fresh cream or ice-cream on the top! Snow can look so sympathetic at times, no?? Laughing

27 Jan '07 4:01 am

You're both absolutely right, my friends: snow can be such a destructive force (like anything in nature, in fact), but it can also be a great source of joy and happiness, and I am lucky enough to only have happy memories of snow. Yes, it makes travelling difficult, if not impossible, but I remember cold, sunny afternoons when our whole family would go to the meadow near our house and toboggan all day long; the meadow was steep in one place (what was locally called the "death run" - ironically, not literally, I must stress) and shallower further along, so my brothers and father would go off and be brave, whilst Mum, my sister and I would enjoy our time without too much risk of injury! Wink

Because I have such happy childhood memories of snow, I still feel the excitement I felt then when we actually have snow (although this is becoming rarer and rarer).

I was amazed to read about such huge amounts of snow in the more southerly areas and islands of Greece, Liza - it is such a strange thing, our weather, and I think this harks back to our other post about Global Warming...

Anyway, I think that was our lot for this year - it's all gone now and, although we had some snowfall this morning, it didn't settle and now it's just cold and grey Sad

All I can say to that is: Roll on Spring!! Very Happy

27 Jan '07 2:21 pm

Hi, again, folks!

Yes, I think you both are right! I, too, am amazed about the amounts of snow falling in Greece lately! Of course, when it falls in Athens it gets noticed in the news here, but I've never heard about snow on Crete before!

This winter, one little town in northern British Columbia had a record 3 feet(!) of snow in one night!! I'm hoping our snow has finished for the year, but one never knows what will happen in March. I've seen snow here in March before, but it never lasts for more than part of a day - just long enough to set seedlings back!

Just now, my snowdrops are coming into bloom, so I thought it might be the time to post a couple of close-ups of parts of my garden. One picture is of snowdrops peeking through the flattened branches of a euphorbia purpurea. The euphorbia will repair itself when the new growth begins (or when I tie it up, whichever occurs first).

The other picture is of one of my favourite native plants, tellima (or Fringecups), with a little maidenhair fern growing through it. I tried to separate them last year but it was too hard to do and to be sure that I didn't kill the fern. You see, it's leaves are quite a bit different from my other maidenhairs and I'd like to see what it might develop into!

Anyway, I hope you like them - it's VERY early in the season here!

27 Jan '07 10:45 pm

Hi, Gordon! It is really lovely that you have the first signs of Spring in your garden! Snowdrops are so cute! But you have to do something about your...sad Euphorbia; even flat down, I visualize her to be really beautiful when she recovers.

Concerning that tender, delicate Fern, it is such a surprise that I see it surviving in your winter garden , together with ..Tellima? Because this Fern (:Adiatum Radianum), is sold here as an indoor plant!! Concerning Tellima, do you think it also has another name, Heuchera? It looks just like my own Heucheras , which prove to be really hardy and brave during Winter frosts , just like the one of yours in the photo!I'll post for you one or two photos of my Heucheras during Summer, because your Tellima looks identical with them . Is Tellima = Heuchera ??

28 Jan '07 2:30 pm

Hi, Liza-

Heuchera and Tellima, while both in the family, Saxifragacae, are NOT the same. In the wild, they both live in similar environments. However, the flowers are quire a bit different, with the heucheras being (in my opinion) more showy.

In Canada, at least, a common name for Tellima is "Fringecups". They have not been as much selected as have Heucheras, and, as far as I know, there are only 3 varieties in that family, and none have really been named.

There's the regular, green-leaved Tellima grandiflora, which I have, that has evergreen, light green, rather fuzzy leaves in a basal clump. The flowers rise on skinny stems rather like tiny versions of delphiniums. However, the flowers are very small, greenish, fringed little things. In large groups, they are quite lovely, and even after the flowers have died off, the stalks remain to add a little structure to the garden.

The next group is basically the same except that the leaves have a reddish tinge to them. These are called Tellima grandiflora purpurea group. It is these ones that I have seeded this year for the first time.

The last kind is another Tellima grandiflora, but has the added name, "odorata" added to it. These are supposed to have a perfume (I can't remember what kind), which none of the others have. So far, I haven't found a source of these ones and have just read about them.

The relatives (Heucheras) are much better known and, other than the flowers, the only thing I can tell that is different between them is that the Tellima leaves are softer than those of the Heucheras. At this time of the year, as you noticed, they look almost the same. In fact, since I also have several Heucheras in the garden, the main clue that I had that the pictured one really WAS a tellima was the fern growing with it!

Those Maidenhair ferns, by the way, grow wild here in damp places, so they can withstand below freezing temperatures quite well. Perhaps the ones that are being sold as houseplants are a different variety from milder climes. I believe that some varieties live in the subtropics!

I hope I haven't bored you with detail, but, as you can tell, I REALLY like Tellimas!! Very Happy

All the best,

gordonf

28 Jan '07 11:09 pm

Dear Gordon, you do not imagine how I enjoyed your analysis on Tellima and Heuchera! I would love to read such plant stories every day - if possible... You know, we are quite many, known -- and unknown, I guess -- in this Forum, who are crazy about this sort of plant-history and plant-origin analysis! I can name Jack, Jacqueline, and Teecee for the time being, apart from you and myself!

And soon after your exceptional Tellima analysis, I went to Google/images, and got to know Tellima even better, seeing in detail her beautiful blooms and leaves. THANK YOU so much , Gordon!! Very Happy

And about that tiny adorable Fern, it is the same, Gordon. And only now I found out why it so quicky died in the heated conditions of my living room 2-3 years ago...You see, some plant commercial centers and their growers face a plant only as a decorative article or a clown, and not as a respectable living being...

Snow at last!

Snow at last!

Snow

Snow!!! YESSS!!

English Snow

Gordon is SO right!

Let It Snow!

Tellima= Heuchera-maybe?

Heuchera/Tellima

Thank you SO much!