Happy Friday GPODers!

I know that January gets a lot of hate for being a long, cold month. After the high of the holiday season, January can often be the hard, cold reality that winter is here for a while. However, this year I’m feeling a bit more angsty about February. Here in Connecticut, February has brought us more snow than we’ve had in a while, as well as a considerable amount of ice and lots of below-freezing days. For the shortest month of the year, it’s feeling like an arduous and tedious roadblock to March and the beginning of spring that awaits us there.

Despite the harsh temperatures, I’ve been trying to get outside every day to find the beauty in this quiet time of the year (to varying success). Here are some pictures from a few of those trips outside.

Earlier in the month, it was still nice to see a light layer of snow clinging to branches and blanketing the ground in white. I think this small Japanese maple looks particularly cool with its web of branches.

Old hydrangea blooms even got a second boost of interest when dusted with some light snow. When we featured Cleo Raulerson’s incredible winter garden in Washington (be sure to check that out here, if you missed it), she made the comment, “Yes, brown is a good garden color.” Not only do I completely agree, I think that different shades of brown, beige, and tan are the perfect compliment to a fresh snowfall.

A couple of weeks later, rain and more snow mixed to create this incredible effect on the lawn. The pictures do not do justice to just how shiny and almost iridescent this was.

The melting ice made incredible patterns in the grass. We work so hard in our gardens every year to craft the perfect shapes, patterns and styles, but nature has a way of creating art with ease.

Some of our largest containers stay out year-round with potting soil. The soil often gets pushed around and dug up by squirrels and other animals, so this pot had a mound of soil that created the coolest “wave” of ice over top. Not as exciting as the flowers that will fill this container in spring, but a very interesting, short-lived creation by Mother Nature.

Another look at the grass creeping out from its icy containment.

Lastly, our current conditions. A few more snow days have occurred since the rest of the photos, as well as more ice. The last storm we had also brought a blistering wind that sent ice flying and brought down lots of branches. It looks like our plants have withstood the harsh conditions, but we will see what warmer weather brings!

I’ve been hearing from some contributors that their winter has also been colder and snowier than recent years, are you experiencing the same? Let us know how winter has been treating you in the comments, or, if you’ve been battling the elements to get some photos of Mother Nature’s work, consider sharing your winter landscape with the blog. Follow the directions below to submit your photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.

 

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to gpod@taunton.com along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!

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