Winter Strikes Again

The snow was just starting to melt

so that was Mother Nature's cue to send

yet another storm our way.

This time she decided to throw us a curve ball

and sent an ice storm.

What fun.

So now we had to worry about possible

power outages.

That Mother Nature is such a kidder.

After the first wave hit I went outside and took some pictures.

Pretty.




But if I had to pick,


I'd choose the snow.








The Foodie Boyfriend was nice enough

to hold a black foam board for me

so I could focus on the ice-covered shrub.

Ice everywhere.

Remember this picture.

There will be a quiz later.

Ice-covered holly.

The next morning I braved the brisk winds and the

horrid wind chills to survey the damage after the second,

and main, wave of the storm hit.

The deck creaked and groaned and I grit my teeth

against the cold as my eyes watered as I looked around.

The butterfly bushes are now about half their previous

height. That's fine as I had planned on cutting them back

to the ground come spring anyway.

There's a garden down there, somewhere.

Notice that it snowed after it iced?

And our neighbor's tree is definitely looking worse for wear.

Poor tree.

Our other neighbor's pines, those that are still alive,

aren't looking much better.

Master Gardener tip: Indiana is not the best place

to try to grow pine trees as they prefer acidic soil

rather than our alkaline soil.

Hopefully they will recover.

The live ones, not the dead ones.
It's too late for them.

The goldthread false cypress is ice covered.

And yes, it is green and not gold.

I'm a Master Gardener

- I have a green thumb, not a gold thumb.

It is also not bent over with the ice,

but naturally grows that way.

One common name for this plant is false mop cypress.

Yet another neighbor has a tree with ice damage.

Bad storm.

The Foodie Daughter was nice enough to take some

pictures while she was on campus.

Notice how the ice is pulling the branches

down from the center of the crown of the tree?

That is why trees such as silver maples, elms,

willows and poplars tend to be weaker trees.

Update:

I guess this is the third wave of the storm.

The snow is really starting to fly now.

We just can't catch a break this winter.

And they say Punxutawney Phil

didn't see his shadow this morning,

signaling an early spring.

I'll believe that when I see it.