February 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Maggi Young]

Love the shot of the snowdrop up to the sky, Lewis - it could be the size of a house - quite imposing towering above like that   

[hadacekf]

Spring in my garden.

Eranthis hyemalis, crocus and cyclamen ......

[Paul T]

Nice collection of Eranthis.  Beautiful display.

Love that Galanthus.  nice form to it.

[David Nicholson]

A couple from the garden today:-

Corydalis wendelboii
Eranthis hyemalis, if only I could show a picture like Franz showed the other today, mine don't seem to seed around.

[Hoy]

Certainly more like spring over there, David, than here at our cabin!

Drove over the mountains last Saturday in beautiful weather - almost too much sun!
Although it was plenty snow at the west side of the mountains it is less here, less than usual actually.


Too sunny though the car window! Too little snow!

   

Here is a woodpecker forge on the stem of a pine - and lots of food from spruce cones!

 

[Hoy]

We have seen some small birds and a flock of ptarmigans. Hares are common also but difficult to spot, they are our very early.

The shallow layer of snow can't hide even the small shrubs. (Vaccinium vitis-idea, V. mytillus, V. uligonosum, Empetrum hermafroditum and Betula nana). It is still to cold for the ants, but in a few weeks they will sun bath and bring their hot bodies down in the hive to warm up the inner chambers.

 


We are at the edge of the forest here. The Norway spruce (Picea abies) makes the treeline together with the mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) and a few Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris).

 

[vivienne Condon]

Anne, its hard to imagine how plants survive under that much snow, do you loose many? or is it like the books say the plants are kept dry until the snow melts. It all look's absolutely stunning.
When it snows a little where we live in Australia about 10cm which is hardly anything compared to you, the branches all snap on the shrubs and trees because of the weight, the plants can't cope they seem to burn.

[astragalus]

Vivienne, we've been very lucky this year that the snow has been dry and fluffy.  It is usually the late, wet spring snows that can cause some damage.  We don't usually lose anything due to the snow, which is quite protective of the plants.  Most of our damage to plants is caused by deer.  The snow actually keeps the plants at a very constant temperature, which is much higher than the air temperature, which has been very, very cold this winter.  It also protects the plants from the desiccating winter winds which can cause a lot of leaf burn in an open winter.

[vivienne Condon]

Anne, I noticed the protective covering coming out of the snow, are the deer native to your area or have they been introduced? Do you have to have high fences to keep them out or is the area too large to fence off? its so lovely to see what is happening on the other side of the world. We have been watching the international news which has been showing us all of the snow and the damage it has caused to buildings and cars. Keep warm.

[ArnoldT]

I'm about 45 mins. south  from Anne and we have deer just 2 miles from the George Washington Bridge which puts them minutes from Times Square.  It's a recent influx in the area.  They routinely just walk up my street and nibble at the Hostas and Rhododendrons folks have growing in their front yard.

[Leena]

Here the snow is already melting but I know there are still at least month of freezing night temperatures ahead.
Helleborus niger 'Jacob' started to flower in December, then got covered by snow and is now appearing again when the snow melts around it.

[Maggi Young]

I'm about 45 mins. south  from Anne and we have deer just 2 miles from the George Washington Bridge which puts them minutes from Times Square.  It's a recent influx in the area.  They routinely just walk up my street and nibble at the Hostas and Rhododendrons folks have growing in their front yard.

  I remember when you posted a picture of a deer in your street, Arnold - I was really surprised!

[Maggi Young]

Here the snow is already melting but I know there are still at least month of freezing night temperatures ahead.
Helleborus niger 'Jacob' started to flower in December, then got covered by snow and is now appearing again when the snow melts around it.

It's a hard life for these plants, isn't it? And for the animals too in the cold. 

[Leena]

It's a hard life for these plants, isn't it? And for the animals too in the cold.

Yes. Helleborus buds don't survive cold so well as snowdrops, and I'm keeping an eye on my other hellebores so that when when the snow melts I still cover them with fir branches to help protect from cold night as well as hungry hares. 
They don't even eat hellebores, only cut the stems and buds, I'm so happy they don't like to eat snowdrops.

[astragalus]

Vivienne, we basically live on rock and fencing would be very expensive.  The deer are native but the population is way too high since their predators (wolves, etc) were exterminated in the area a long time ago.  Then they are protected by limiting the season for hunting and the quantity you can kill, so they just keep proliferating.  They are fussy about where their feet go, so I cover a good section of the garden with chicken wire raised above the ground - they don't try and walk on it.  The garden is much too large to cover completely, unfortunately.