The Beauty of Winter

People up north laugh at our idea of winter down in the South. Things like ice and snow are rare sights for us. The highs usually are in the 50s and 60s, lows in the 30s, and typical skies are gray, cloudy, maybe a little rainy. Though the weather is mild compared to other parts of the country, I generally dislike January and February. Being from South Florida, I get tired of the cold well before spring arrives. Even if we don't have blizzards, the weather is just icky. We had a freak cold snap last week (the "polar vortex"), with highs in the 20s and 30s, lows in the teens. I was hoping for snow, but no precipitation came. You would think a blizzard came, though...we turned the heat down to save electricity, built lots of fires in the fireplace, cooked soup, and bundled up to make it through the crazy weather. Our old house just isn't built for the cold.

So when skies are gray, temperatures are cold, and not much is blooming, I have to make a little extra effort to find the beauty in my garden. I spent a few minutes in the garden checking on things during the freeze, and I thought the ice in my backyard was beautiful in the sunshine.

It rained a lot the weekend before the freeze, and my
wheelbarrow turned into a solid block of ice.

There's just something about leaves and ice in a
birdbath that's beautiful to me.

When we finally had some nice weather on Sunday, I took a walk around the yard to discover that the half-dead dogwood tree I had been meaning to cut down had fallen on the nearby holly. (We had some storms over the weekend.) Even if I was relieved that Mother Nature had done half of the work for me, it was kind of sad to see the fallen tree covered in buds. I decided to make the best of it and cut armfuls of branches to try to force inside.

Difficult to capture with my cheap digital camera, but the
colors in a dogwood bud are stunning up close.

"Forcing" means taking branches from trees and shrubs that typically bloom in spring or summer and getting them to bloom in vases inside, before they'd normally be blooming outside. Branches that can be forced include cherry, crab apple, flowering almond, dogwood, quince, forsythia, and redbud. It takes a little effort and some patience to coax the branches from bud into flower, but it's simple enough for anyone to do. You simply put the branches in a tall vase or bucket with plenty of water in a cool, dark room. The water should be changed daily, and the branches should also be sprayed or misted with water at least daily. Some people suggest bruising the cut end with a hammer to help the branch absorb more water. Once the buds open up, the branches can be moved to a warmer, sunnier room.

Aren't dogwood branches laden with buds
just lovely?

I have mine in a vase in the living room because I think the branches are beautiful all by themselves, even without flowers. Also, if I stick them in a closet, I'm afraid I'll forget to change the water. According to what I've read, it takes dogwood branches a whole five weeks to bloom! If you don't have much patience, try forsythia--it only takes 1-2 weeks to bloom.

Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll have photos to share from some of my winter-blooming plants that aren't yet in flower. In the meantime, bundle up and stay warm!