Late Winter Update on What's Growing

It's early March now and we have been weathering the storms, and I haven't been posting much to the blog recently. But I have still been poking my head out and taking pictures.  But mostly when I look outside lately I see variations on this:

 

Not that that is bad, but any thoughts of spending time outside doing anything other than playing with the snowblower gets a chilly reception.  Of course, I could look to the other side of the yard...

I have been able to find a few things growing though.

My crop of ice has been renewing and growing steadily, I'm afraid that it's an invasive species and will overtake my native plants.

The boxwood in the front yard show significant signs of being overwhelmed.

Under the ice are cherry blossom buds. I hope they were not damaged by the glazing ice.

This is the Red Maple in the backyard. I'm afraid the ice is invading and overwhelming everything. 

I did see the rosemary bush trying to make it through its first winter. 

I guess I'll retreat to the inside and enjoy...

A fire in the fireplace.

New Years Snow

On the second day of the year, we had our first snow of the year. From what I could tell from shovelling the driveway and clearing off the cars, I think we got about 3 inches.  It wasn't enough to really need the snow blower, just a snow shovel was able to handle the job this morning.  But there was enough to make a great cover where all you saw was snow - not snow with blades of grass sticking out.  So last night I went out to get some more pictures. We still have our Christmas lights up and they were still turned on.

This is my favorite shot from last night.  This is a weeping cherry tree at the front corner of the yard. I like the light reflected off the snow under the tree. The slightly blurry section just right of center in the tree was caused by my camera lens fogging up in the cold.  It's not big enough to ruin the picture and adds a little "magic" to the picture.

Needless to say there are more pictures...

These two are from the backyard and the snow that was still falling helped create a glow around the denser lights. In the upper picture  I like the reflection of the glow from the snow under the bush on the right side and under the trees in the center.  The lower picture has the glow created by all the snow covered branches of the red maple that anchors that side of the yard.

And I had to get some pictures of the holly grove outside the fence in back.

This one was taken with a flash, so a lot more of the snow is visible, in flight and on the trees.  The lights are not as obvious, but snow on holly is so emblematic of winter that I had to get some pictures.

And a couple other pictures...

The first one is the top of the cherry tree in the backyard - above where I was able to reach to hangs lights. The second picture is a bush in  the front yard showing off in holiday lights and the new year's snow.

We have a fire going in the fireplace and are just relaxing today, enjoying the last day of my vaccation.

December Snow

I heard someone this week say, "Any other time of year everyone would be cursing the weather, but in December it's 'Christmasy.'" We had our first snow storm, and the government was nice enough to close for the day, so I was able to get out with my camera before the early sunset of mid December.

I love the colors of the season, so I had to capture the red berries on a couple different Nandina bushes around the yard.

But I couldn't let the Nandina upstage the holly grove.

That's 4 of the six trees we had planted a couple years ago.  I'm giving serious thought to adding holly berry bushes (probably about 5 [4 female and a male] and in a few years we can start decorating with fresh holly cuttings and berries in the house.)

But now it's time for the close-ups outside. :-) 

Looking around the yard brought a few more colors popping out of the snow.

And a few more stark shots.

And for a chuckle, I had to do a double check when I looked at the way the snow was settling on the grill. He didn't look happy at being left out in the cold.