Sunday, January 3, 2010

Ready for Winter!

Snow Shovels

Hello everyone, and welcome to 2010! I thought I'd share some wintery shots taken over the past week at our house.

Some of you in the southern United States still have flowers in bloom. Here is how my rosebushes look these days. This is one of my Royal Bonica roses with its rose hips nearly buried in snow.

Royal Bonica Rose Hips

I usually bury may non-native plants in a thin layer of leaves for the winter, and hope a nice blanket of snow will insulate the plants enough to prevent the ground from heaving in the spring. Heaving causes air pockets around the roots, causing the plant to die. This Nikko Blue Hydrangea is my most tender plant. It is hardy only to Zone 5 (I am in a Zone 3 micro climate). I bury this hydrangea about 2 feet with leaves to keep the canes alive.

Nikko Blue Hydrangea

The weekend after Christmas, we had freezing rain.
Every branch of every tree and shrub was coated in ice.
It made everything look like it was made of sparkly glass!

Freezing Rain 1

Freezing Rain 2

My pond heater is broken so my pond froze over this year.
I need to buy a new one soon! Meanwhile, we have this
auxiliary heated bird bath for our backyard buddies.

Heated Bird Bath

The plastic Canada Goose looks more like a Snow Goose with its snowy beard,
cape and icicles on its beak!

Frosty the Goose Statue

There are icicles everywhere.
Icicles

Frozen Bird Feeder

And finally, our house and gazebo.

Our House in Winter

Gazebo in the Snow

This is hot cocoa weather. We hit -1°F last night, and will stay well below normal all week. At least we didn't get the 2 feet of lake effect snow that fell this weekend on the other side of Lake Michigan! Stay warm, my cold climate friends!

Labels: , ,

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

These pictures could have been of our area!! Just think your photography is beautiful!! Lovely home & gazebo!!
Stay Warm!!
Take Care...
Love,
Marilyn
xxoo

January 4, 2010 at 7:34 AM  
Blogger The Pink Birdhouse said...

Pam, your photos are just fantastic, I love the close ups of the little things like the berries in the snow, and the icicles!! How wonderful. My camera always seems to leave me in the lurch when i want to get really clear crisp shots of something up close. It just does not capture the light right and i noticed that all my recent snow pictures have a blue cast to them. I will have to work with the camera and see if there isn't a different setting to use. Not always sunny here, so I know that the semi-dark cast to the sky even in the middle of the day does not help. It is as if daylight never fully finds us here where I live. :-) Your house is just delightful and that gazebo, oh my, I am in love with it!! I was thrilled that you shared photos of where you live. You have a real eye for the tiny details outside your door, my favorite is the twig covered in ice. You do not see that too often. stay warm dear friend, hugs from afar, Debby

January 4, 2010 at 9:02 AM  
Blogger Dana and Daisy said...

it is just cold all over right now! we're supposed to have single digits this week, too. I love the front of your house. Is that the originall structure? It looks tiny without the addition on back. Can you imagine living in a house just that size?

I would love to have a studio like that though! ha ha! Never content with what we've got it seems. I'll work on that.

January 4, 2010 at 9:06 AM  
Blogger Pam of Eastlake Victorian said...

Marilyn, Debby, Dana & Daisy-

Thanks for the comments!

Debby, my snow pictures turned out blue as well, but I am lucky enough to be able to color correct and enhance them in Photoshop! I like the little details, too, like the ice on the twigs!

Dana, the front part of the house that you see is the 2 room original part of the house from 1873 (you can even see how it has settled on the left side!) The other rooms, including kitchen and bathroom, were added on later. It's a very odd structure, and still a small house! We rarely use the front door, because we have a side door and a back door that are closer to the garage and yard, etc. The whole house is only about 1200 sq. ft.

January 4, 2010 at 9:28 AM  
Blogger The Victorian Parlor said...

Brrrr...it sure looks cold there! Your house is beautiful and I love the gazebo! We finally got our winter weather with temps in the 20's for the last few days. Needless to say the roses are done for the season. My fountain in the garden has long icicles all over it. The ice is so pretty but I prefer enjoying it from the warmth of indoors:).

Blessings,

Kim

January 4, 2010 at 11:38 AM  
Blogger Pam of Eastlake Victorian said...

Kim,

I guess the whole country has been hit by winter. I hear the orange groves in Florida are worried about the oranges! I really don't like January through March, when the weather is really bitter cold. I'm an outside kind of person! ;)

Pam

January 4, 2010 at 3:47 PM  
Blogger BumbleVee said...

We're having a Chinook today.... yesterday it was -21C....today.... it's gone up to +7C .... wheeee... pretty blustery, but lovely and sunny.....

January 9, 2010 at 7:47 PM  
Blogger Pam of Eastlake Victorian said...

BumbleVee-

It is sunny here today, and not snowing anymore. I think I like winter best when the sun is out. It makes it more bearable!

-Pam

January 9, 2010 at 9:22 PM  
Blogger Rose ~Victorian Rose ~ said...

Pam, We here in Southeast Texas we are starting to "warm" up a bit ....it was 19 here this
(Mon) AM, but now a wonderful, sunny 27 at the moment I beleive.
What a delightful place to escape into in the summer ....that huge, lovely gazebo...so very nice.

Rose

http://delightfulclutter.blogspot.com/

January 11, 2010 at 11:58 AM  
Blogger Pam of Eastlake Victorian said...

Hi Rose-

Ooh, 27° and sunny, now that's balmy! Yes, we love our gazebo, and are sad that there aren't more months in the year that can can enjoy it!

Thanks for visiting.

-Pam

January 11, 2010 at 2:32 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home