Today we’re headed to Independence, Oregon, where Erla Richards is sharing some of the beautiful—and not so beautiful—faces of the winter garden.
Many readers are looking toward spring, as am I, but winter is not over. We haven’t had snow or ice in my part of Oregon for several years, so these are an accumulation of photos of past years. These pictures remind me of Beauty and the Beast—the beauty of glassy ice-covered shrubs from freezing rain and the beast of the damage that ice can do.
Beauty—ice-covered Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii, Zones 3–8)
Pieris (Pieris japonica, Zones 5–9) blooms-to-come showing through the ice.
My birds still need to be fed, and they manage to cope.
A young jacquemontii birch (Betula jacquemontii, Zones 5–7) bent to the ground from the weight of so much ice.
The beast side of the ice storm: the weight of ice was too much for this old oak.
This tiny hummer probably wishes he hadn’t hung around. (Editor’s note: If, like me, you live in the eastern United States, you might be very surprised to see a hummingbird in the snow! The West Coast has difference species of hummingbirds, and one, Anna’s hummingbird, regularly stays put through the winter rather than migrating south like the eastern ruby-throated hummingbird does.)
Midnight snow falling on the jacquemontii birch.
Beauty of the winter sky over the black walnut (Juglans sp., Zones 4–9) waiting for spring.
A view of Mount Jefferson from my deck.
The Oregon coast is quiet and beautiful in the winter.
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