Today’s photos are from Jane Donelon in Maine. We’ve visited Jane’s garden three times, HERE, HERE, and HERE. But these pics from early last month are a special treat!
Jane says, “We have had some spectacular ice storms this season in Maine. Thanks to my trusty YAKS with their steel teeth I have been able to walk around my icy yard admiring and capturing some of the enchanting splendor ice brings out. With little wind the ice remained for days.
“Some of the most amazing things to me are the tiniest details of nature that I might never even notice, revealed so clearly beneath layers of ice. Within my sparkling ice covered yard you will see encased in ice: berries on a burning bush, the tip of a branch…maybe a red-twig dogwood, a seed pod from an echinacea, a star magnolia bud with last leaf still clinging, frozen pine needles, red fruit from a Hawthorn, leucothoe leaves, and Mrs. Claus-now the Ice Maiden. Above my entry lit by tiny lights, a robin’s nest surrounded by icicles awaits a spring return.”
Gorgeous, Jane!
—-Winter is the perfect time to take a photographic stroll through the photos you took in your garden this year……and then send some in to me at [email protected]!
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Comments
i do love going to Jane's house! it is always a treat and today is no different. Jane you see things in your garden that i would have missed so thanks for bringing them to my attention. i did have to google YAKS to know that you didn't have livestock!
Jane did a grand job of capturing ice encrusted treasures. I use YAKS too, permanently attached to a pair of LLBean boots. I love Jane's garden shed.
Beautiful Jane!,,,,, I am always in awe of nature,,,, as even when she plays cruel tricks on us with humongous amounts of snow , ice and cold,,,, there is beauty,,,,,, and you have certainly captured it!
LOVE your shed ,,,,, GREAT photo!!!,,,,, they are all WONDERFUL!!!!,,, I truly enjoyed them!!!
Mother Nature is the ultimate magician, isn't she...abracadabra...with a wave of her weather wand, she welcomes us into a world of glistening wonderment. You captured some beautiful images, Jane...each one so special in its own unique way. I am guessing that the lack of wind kept damage to a minimum.
I,too, had to go look up YAKS...at first glance, they looked like mini bear traps for elves...ha. I can see why they are the perfect footwear accessory in climates with lots of us and snow.
What lovely images. Thanks for seeing the beauty in an ice storm, that at other times might have the potential for great damage to our gardens and hardship to our neighbours. Just beautiful.
Hi Jane, Have heard about your ice storms up in Maine. Some
nasty stuff!! Yet you positively have captured the enchanting, ice-laden beauty it can bring so nicely through
your photos and especially the close-up shots, for sure!
Come to think of it...can't remember when the last time was..
that I built a snowman. Shame on me!!
I'll bet you are looking out at beautiful white fluffy snow today instead of ice. The ice does make many things look so beautiful, all glittery. Did you loose any trees? We have birches along the field that have been bent to the ground since Christmas and will never stand straight again. Thank you for submitting every season in your beautiful garden for our pleasure.
Exquisite details, winter can be so beautiful and you have stopped to smell the...icicles. Yax are wonderful, mine are right here by my door (do you find that they leave rust marks on the floor, though easy enough to wipe off). Thanks for showing how lovely a winter garden can be though ice can be so damaging if it hangs heavy and then the wind blows. Plenty of snow here in New England right now, I like to think of the sleeping beauties deep under it waiting for April's nod.
Jane your pictures have a enchanting feel. I don't like cold weather but I so enjoyed your pictures. The details you captured was amazing.
Great pics you've captured - your snowgirl is too cute!
Jane, I'm glad your Yaks took you through your alluring photo session. I also feel the beauty of winter is worth the extra effort and precautions needed to capture enchanting moments in the landscape. Thanks for sharing!
Good morning! Brrr...is pretty much the first word that comes to my mind while I sit here looking at these beautiful pictures and its 18 degrees outside here. Looks like we have another great photographer in out midst. Its all very nice and I love your house. I sure hope your springs and summers are nice and hot. There is such contrast in all of our lives right now. Thanks Jane for sharing!
Thanks, all. So glad you are enjoying the pictures of our ice storm, too!
tntreeman: Thanks ,Jeff, for the morning giggle ... I did have a possum in my snowy yard recently, but no YAKS! Here's my haiku for that event: Oh my! Wrong season
For possum to visit Maine
Without a tail coat
To Mainer59 and meander1: I was fortunate to not lose any trees in the ice storm.Yes, I,too, believe it was because of the absence of wind. I hope your birches surprise you ....I've had them almost out straight on the ground and somehow return to their normal upright position. They are amazingly resilient.
Sculpturedale, I haven't noticed rust marks from my YAKS, but I usually take them off when I come in. Mine are the spikes, not the wires. What are yours?
Ha! The image of Jane walking around with furry yaks (not YAKS) on her feet was a fun tickler this morning. wonderful photographs. Beauty is where you find it! Thanks for sharing.
I can remember the first time,as a kid , I stepped out into a icy wonderland. It truly is amazing. Kudos to you for still being able to see it through new eyes. On the footwear topic, I haven't tried yaks, but I am also in love with my indestructible ll bean boots.( The original ones still made in Maine. I have an unlined pair and ones lined with real fleece- o my, they are soooo warm. I can stay out all day in them, even on the coldest new england days and my feet are toasty.)
PS. I love your ice maiden Claus.
Beautiful photos Jane! I love the look of snow and ice, but am happy not to have to deal with them very often here. Mrs Claus certainly looks content to have an extra coat of glitter and will probably be around for a long while yet! After I moved from colder Ontario to a much warmer southern Vancouver Island, I made a point of building a snowman during the first snowfall every year. Happily, both the snowman and the snow would usually melt away pretty quickly.
Great garden shots Jane. It must be the same storm that hit ius here in Southern Ontario and like you, I was out with my camera. The garden looked beautiful and I didn't lose anything that I am aware of but up and down the streets in our area, there was lots of damage to trees. The remaining grasse really looked special coated in ice.
A postscript - we have been having freezing weather for several days now, with no snow cover, so the plants are NOT happy. However, as my friend Catherine (GrannyCC)and I prepare to leave for Seattle to catch Michelle's seminar at the Garden Show tomorrow (how exciting!!!), the Saturday forecast is for SNOW!
Hey, Grannymay... this is Jeanne cronce from seattle area and also on this site..greengenes: Sure would like to meet you tomarrow at the seminar. I hope to be there as well!
20 below here this am, so not a big ice-fan right now, but the photos are wonderful!
I too have had several multi-trunked birch bent to the ground from ice storms and lo and behold, when spring arrives they straighten right up and you'd never know except that I took pictures.
I practically live in my Bean boots, I swear by them. You can't kill that footwear, they don't leak and are easy to wash clean of mud and grime... I even occasionally send them through the clothes washer to clean the insides. Air dry and apply a generous coat of Bean Boot Guard Leather Dressing to the uppers. I like the Thinsulate lined version.
I like Jane's Snow Santa... however I would suggest at first opportunity have those branches touching the roof removed lest they rub through... I'd be out with the pole pruner even in the snow.
Isn't it wonderful how talented gardeners seem to be talented photographers. Thanks for this mornings pictures Jane. it makes you realize that if you look closely you can see beauty all around us.
Oh how wonderful it is to go here, here, and here when viewing Jane"s garden. What a labor of love.
white frozen icy
beautiful lovely but cold
spring is under snow
tractor1: thanks for the roof tip. My 'treeman' is coming soon. Yes, I still love my Bean boots (their main store is in the town next to me) but I love my MUCK boots even more.
GrannyCC , GrannyMay and green genes: Have a GREAT time at the Seattle's Flower Show! Hope you get to meet one another. What fun it will be to see Michelle's presentation. We have at least another month to wait before any shows nearby.
Annek: I love the 'furry yaks' image, too-definitely worthy of a haiku!
Jeff: HA! Nice haiku! Yes, it is under there ...someplace! I thought some other gardener might be into writing about their gardens. ..wondered WHO.
GrannyMay,GrannyCC and greengenes: Here's one for you:
On a drab morning
Arriving at the Flower Show
We burst into color
JaneEliz,,,,,,,,,,,,,thanku
Wow, thanks for the great photos!
Hi Greengenes (Jean Croce), love to meet you and Michelle and all the other GPODers! We'll try to do so at the seminar. Sooooo looking forward to it! And, of course, all the flowers and gardens!
Thanks for the haikus too - such amazing, talented folks on GPOD!!
Talk to you next week.
Ooops, sorry Jean, I misspelled your name. See you tomorrow!
Amazing pictures! In the midst of all the havoc cause by those storms, Nature still creates beauty. I love the little ice heart.
Brrr...from cold SD, -10 this morning. Wish we had a fireplace!
Nature is truly amazing! Jane, thanks for all the unique winter wonderland photos. You have a sweet shed that blends in perfectly.
This is how to wait out a cold day:
Wow, I love winter's beauty, and I don't mind snow removal because I have my trusty little electric Toro! Now it may be time for some YAKS. Also,JaneEliz and tntreeman, who could guess that when we see the GPOD photos and comments, we also get to enjoy Haiku poetry? What a delight!
Beth, Jane enticed me with her lines so i couldn't resist trying myself. now it's your turn
Okay, janeElis.. here is another part of the poetry..and didn't you know,
There was Michelle all happy and bright
Getting ready to show,
All the gardens,
Real life,
To share with us all.
But you have to read the beginning back a couple of comments.. I love poetry. Do you know about appledore? The lady, Celia Thaxter gardened on an island off the coast of ...well the east coast and she did poetry, and art and surrounded herself with artists and poets and of course gardens. She has this great book called: An Island Garden" and it is wonderful. It is illustrated by a great artist named Childe Hassam. Totally awesome! Well id better go and it is 630 your time over there. I don't know if you all read futher on the comments. Well Spring is on its way. Its almost like santa claus coming on Christmas! Its coming!
greengenes: I love the book, An Island Garden, too. I've gone to Appledore Is., off the coast of NH, to see Celia Thaxter's reconstructed garden.(Look at the diagram in her book.) It was utterly charming....a lovely mixture of old-fashioned annuals and perennials surrounded by the sea. It's been a while and I'd love to return. It's only open 1 day/wk. in the summer, but has a wonderful guided tour and was definitely worth visiting. I will look and see if I can find photos on my computer-they may be lost. Thanks for sharing your sweet 'Michelle poetry'.
greengenes: I love the book, An Island Garden, too. I've gone to Appledore Is., off the coast of NH, to see Celia Thaxter's reconstructed garden.(Look at the diagram in her book.) It was utterly charming....a lovely mixture of old-fashioned annuals and perennials surrounded by the sea. It's been a while and I'd love to return. It's only open 1 day/wk. in the summer, but has a wonderful guided tour and was definitely worth visiting. I will look and see if I can find photos on my computer-they may be lost. Thanks for sharing your sweet 'Michelle poetry'.
greengenes: I love the book, An Island Garden, too. I've gone to Appledore Is., off the coast of NH, to see Celia Thaxter's reconstructed garden.(Look at the diagram in her book.) It was utterly charming....a lovely mixture of old-fashioned annuals and perennials surrounded by the sea. It's been a while and I'd love to return. It's only open 1 day/wk. in the summer, but has a wonderful guided tour and was definitely worth visiting. I will look and see if I can find photos on my computer-they may be lost. Thanks for sharing your sweet 'Michelle poetry'.
greengenes: I love the book, An Island Garden, too. I've gone to Appledore Is., off the coast of NH, to see Celia Thaxter's reconstructed garden.(Look at the diagram in her book.) It was utterly charming....a lovely mixture of old-fashioned annuals and perennials surrounded by the sea. It's been a while and I'd love to return. It's only open 1 day/wk. in the summer, but has a wonderful guided tour and was definitely worth visiting. I will look and see if I can find photos on my computer-they may be lost. Thanks for sharing your sweet 'Michelle poetry'.
Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures. They're a treat at the end of the day for some of us who have early morning obligations. I'm looking forward to some Spring sprouts, and I hope you'll share with us once again when that time comes.
Jane, very artfully photographed! Even in winter, you have found the beauty of color and interesting shapes to share. I also like the shed! I wish I had one like that!
Thanks for taking us back again for a narrative stroll accompanied by scenes viewed through your gardener's eyes! Such a treat. Hope to see more as the garden continues to grow and change over time.
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