Alas, the sunshine isn’t fake. But the brightness gives the illusion of warmth, which gives the impression that things might be melting out there.
Its all lies. It is hella cold and nothing is melting.
I’m fully aware that I sound like a broken record. There is more snow scheduled for this weekend. It’ll push us ever closer to the all-time snowiest year on record in our area. Because that is a goal we should be excited about?
Judging by the state of the ‘Miss Kim’ Dwarf Lilac just outside the living room windows, I’m increasingly nervous about all the trees outside being girded by starving mice and bunnies. I want to shoo them off, but let’s be real. With 3+ feet of snow, this is likely some of the only browse they can find.
Notice all the nibbled and stripped branches… I’ll likely have to give it some judicious pruning come thaw. My hope is that only a few of these branches are actually girdled and that it will bounce back well. If not, well, I guess I’ll either do a rejuvenation pruning or be replacing it with something less bunny-friendly. Whatever that may be.
Honestly, Spring cannot come soon enough for me now. It is March and I fully expect to see forward progress— not more of the same! Harrumph!
I do hope it is warming up for real in your neck of the woods. Be sure to post all the photos you can of your Spring ephemerals, I fear we won’t see ours until June!
Ditto your feelings and observations, except all our snows have been of the 1-3″ variety that melted before each temperature plunge, leaving all the plants without insulation or protection. We have no accumulation to melt, but we’ve had record cold and very few sunny days, so enjoy those rays!
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Oh no! That is somehow worse than all the snow. We got just a week of that in January, but we’ve been under snow since then so at least my stuff is insulated. I hope your temps warm up and stay there soon!
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I never noticed the bark of the lilacs getting nibbled away. Anything related to apples or cherries, sure. Those I protect with hardware cloth. I’ll have to give my lilac a close. look.
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We always protect the apple trees and others, but we’ve never had issues with this shrub until this year!
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