Here's the thing, it's never snowed this much here before

 

Okay, I know...enough snow. Still we don't often, actually we never have this much snow. This morning it looks to be a bit over 20 inches and we're expecting another 4-8. I shoveled out the front door about midnight. Did it again this morning and a path to the back of the deck so I could better survey the destruction and beauty. I don't care what happens to the bamboo; actually snow enhances it, permanently forming it into an arching tunnel over the path. The 'Sky Pencil' Japanese holly given to me by Gene Eisenbeiss thats gone from a nice 10 foot tall spire to that splayed curiosity in the right foreground....that may require work. I suppose I ought to have done some prophylactic staking and tieing, but hey, worst case scenario I cut it to 2-3 feet and it starts over. George was collecting chainlock last week and I know they worked on some of the fastigiate specimens in the Gotelli Collection. Snow does set the confiers off nicely if it doesn't break them off.

If you like snow and we don't have enough for you.....

Here is a link to a lot of of of well...I'm speechless. And I'm hardly ever speechless but it's worth taking a few minutes.

The before picture. Not quite monochromatic, but certainly less colorful than those flower in Polyouse 8!

On sunny days the Hamamelis seem quite brilliantly colored, but this wasn't a sunny day. The snow started falling about 10:00 and because Federal employees in Washington were released 4 hours early, We were free to go at 11:00. I hung around till 1:00 though.  I couldn't help myself. It took two hours to get home but it was well worth it.

I'll take this picture again on Monday or whenever we go back to work. The forecast has been increased to 2-3 feet of snow. I'm thinking 3 feet could shut us down for a while.

This is not the Venus of Willendorf, she's the Venus of Gotelli

And she's part Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle......That was mean. I think the 40+F temperatures of the last two days were just too much for her hairdo. I don't know the Arboretum's official position on snow sculpture, but this seems relatively harmless and positively amusing

Hippeastrum, Hatiora, and Salvia....It's going to be cloudy and snow for the next two days so I need to stock up some color...polyhouse 7 is alway a good place to look

Brad seems to have a new strategy for Amaryllis: grow them in the polyhouses and move the cut stems when the flowers open. They seem to last forever that way and it allows for far more flowers in a smaller space. 

I grew Drunkard's Dream (because the leaves/stem segments look like bottles), Hatiora salicornoides when I was about 12 years old. I've always like it. It's an epiphytic cactus from Brazil and eventually forms a moppish weeping mound. Brad has a couple of largish plants in flower now. 

The Herb Garden  holdings are a pretty dependable place to look for flowers; there's always a Salvia or a Pelargonium blooming. This Salvia, Salvia iodantha Louis Saso form is awfully nice for a pink flower. Just kidding, I love pink flowers, at least I like them a lot.

I went to polyhouse 7 today to look for cheerful plants and I found a cheerful person!

I'm glad Meg is volunteering though I don't know where she finds the time. She's always in school, usually has a handful of jobs and designs gardens. I miss having her around. She's pretty nearly always infectuously happy and you can't have too much of that. She was propagating/potting for Brad. I've been admiring these Begonias all winter.

Branches in the snow: Acer palmatum dissectum; Cercidiphyllum japonicum pendula; Morus "unryu'; and Prunus