We finally got snow today.

They sure look amazing when you get that heavy wet snow.

We haven't had much snow either over the last several years. We get a few inches then it melts or gets windswept. We had more snow this past November than December as well. I do prefer a snow cover than none over the winter.

A prickley Pendula Bruns

The native white spruce do really well around here. Its rare to see one that isn't doing well.

The var. densata degrade as the years pass.

Frosty birch

Witch´s brooms garden in snow ...

Witch´s broms garden in snow ...

here is our 40-50foot magnolia in the background after our first big snow of the year, Jan 13th. I took this picture from our 2nd floor. the deciduous trees next to large magnolia to the right are beech.

left of magnolia is a virginia pine, I believe, then i think some sort of spruce and at the left edge of the picture you can see white pine.

Great thread!

Our snow is never this pretty.

We are predicted to get something like a foot this weekend, so there may be more photos from those of us in the northeast, though depending on the temperature, the amount of snow may vary.

A foot??!! Crikey.......I'd be heading south tout de suite!

This is why I am so happy to live where I live :-)) If I want to see snow, I can always drive up to the mountains.

If I lived in the PNW I'd be on a cocktail of anti-depressants from never seeing the sun in the winter. ha ha! To each their own

LOL!! Its been very sunny nearly all this week....actually more like the last 10 days! Pristine bue skies, all the mountains out and the sun sparkling off the Sound. The PNW can be gorgeous in the winter........just without the snow and extreme cold :-)

Farther north in NH they are predicting 18”-2’, so the ski areas are thrilled as is my DH. There is nothing that compares with the silence and beauty of freshly fallen snow, and one just needs snow tires, access to someone with a plow truck, and a willingness to stay home until the worst of the storm is past. I love living where there are 5 distinct seasons, though I could do without mud season, the time between when the season’s accumulation of snow starts melting and the ground thaws enough that the snowmelt can actually drain. I also wouldn’t mind if spring lasted more than six weeks.

I've spent some time in MT in the winter and it was far too grey for my liking and I can't imagine WA is better. WA is an exceedingly beautiful state, that much is undeniable.

If you like snow, upper peninsula of Michigan, Ironwood if I recall correctly, has almost 200" per year average snowfall. I lived just south of Marquette for over 2 years where totals were around 150" per year. A lot of it was "Lake effect" snow where the sun would shine and be snowing like crazy. Stunningly beautiful in lots of ways but difficult driving conditions for sure.

I don't like snow that much! ;-))

Good discussion on regional tastes in weather. It only makes sense that we’d defend where we live—it’s what we know from day to day living. Our winters are no picnic, but if you can adapt to the cooler temps, there’s much to enjoy outdoors. We’ve had an unusually dry winter, with much of the ground without cover. This has created a great opportunity for removing invasive plants from the woodlot. You know, the usual suspects—buckthorn, amur honeysuckle, and burning bush. Refreshing!

It's hard to imagine 200" of snow, my house would snow over and I would have a really hard time getting in to the town for groceries. We had almost 30" some ten years ago and that was no fun at all, but still far from 200"... I'm happy I still don't have any snow this winter, I'm also removing invasive trees.

Hard to imagine, definitely needs the right equipment to deal with.

Upper peninsula Michigan snofall:

Just trees but it all counts!

Wbgarden some years ago ...

Current weather in the wbgarden ...

Jan

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212222240779649&set=a.10209878537588534&type=3&theater 

It looks like you'd have a little village with hobbits living in the snow cover!

Our last “snow” was actually ice pellets rather than snow, so nothing stuck to the trees at all. Further south got freezing rain, so I can’t complain. Most recently we had couple inches of rain, leaving huge frozen puddles everywhere.

Same Norway spruce

Different white pines

Bamboo weighted down with snow. Tree on the upper left is a branch of a Cunninghamia lanceolata 'Glauca'.

We had one day of snow last week! Evergreens in this photo are box, Laurus nobilis, Ilex aquifolium, Arbutus unedo, a yellow conifer I don't know the name of, variegated Euonymus fortunei, and lots of evergreen perennials like Hellebores and ferns. That was Friday. By Sunday evening you'd never have known it had snowed.

Juniperus communis:

Bill, you gave me a much needed giggle!

Thanks to everyone who has added photos. It is really fun for me to see how snow effects the view differently for each yard and garden. And snow from unexpected places like floral_UK and Mike in Seattle; I don’t know if you view it as a treat or a misery. Here is is just what is expected for at least 4-6 months of the year.

Feel free to continue to add as you have additional photos!

Just keeping in theme of the title of this thread. :-))

Yes, seeing some of these places that normally don't always gets snow is amazing! I've always looked at it as a real wonder of nature. Especially when it occurs early or heavy for the first time of the year.

I think we need a garden gal snow picture :) I heard there was a rare snow in Seattle

Lane Clark, we have blue skies in the winter. This is the second one this season. I hope for one more before Spring.

Monkey Puzzle Tree.

Araucaria araucana.

Back to grey skies. The blue didn't last long.

Mike, the snow-covered bamboo along the pond are just gorgeous! I don’t think I have noticed the bamboo in any of your other posted photos. I only have one 4’ bamboo that is a bit borderline here, and it mostly just looks sad in snow.

Stunning pictures, Mike. Monkey puzzles are such interesting trees

"I think we need a garden gal snow picture :) I heard there was a rare snow in Seattle"

Lol! I live on Bainbridge Island, not in Seatte, and very close to the Sound so I get less snow here than most places. Barely had enough to cover the grass.....just a dusting really. We are supposed to get another dose, even heavier, this weekend but I am not overly concerned. There is just not much of any accumulation this close to sea level :-) Nothing at all compared to what Mike would see!!

get on your belly , turn camera on macro , grass might look like forest,,,ha

mike & babs , I have Phyllostachys ( ? ) nuda in northern Ill. ,,, mostly acts as a perennial

ron

Ron, I had to laugh out loud at that image :-) Getting down flat on my belly in the cold and snow at my age is just not gonna happen!! Primarily because I wouldn't be able to get back up again without assistance. And the dog would just go nuts licking my face and I wouldn't get any photos taken!!

(btw, that is Phyllostachys :-))

yes , I had to go to the bamboo forum to verify spelling

I can sugest for others , things , I can't do either

ron

There may yet be an opportunity to post photos of snow covered evergreens in my area! We are expecting to get dumped on again starting later this afternoon and continuing through the weekend. And even an on-and-off snow forecast going into next week. It is supposed to be the worst winter snowstorm here in the last 10 years or so.

However, no one seems able to agree on exacty how much snow that might entail. Local meteorologists are predicting from a trace to as much as foot, but will be highly dependent on location. I still do not expect to see much in my location - my proximity to a major body of salt water precludes that.

I got curious and looked at Seattle's weather forecast and it looks like a week and a half low temps that threaten the daily records. Is there any anticipated damage to plants? Or is this no big deal?

It is really only the next couple of days with temps of any concern........nights into the low teens possible and not above freezing during the day. And even that will not be uniform everywere. Too much water around :-) Otherwise it will be colder than normal but not anything record breaking (eg. record cold for today in my location is 15F, average cold is 35F, real time temp is 30F).

I don't expect any damage....other than a few temperennials I left out with hopes they would winter over (they did last year). But it is just not possible to predict at this stage, as it could be much less - or much worse - than they predict. But it is for sure a long stretch of unusual cold for us. Typically we only see a couple of days of this, if that. But it has been unusually cold here for the last week and that cold is forecast to continue for the next 10 or so days.

Tsuga canadensis:

Weather like this helps prevent winter drying of branches. We've had snow every few days here.

A few of my windbreak trees after last snow:

Pinus strobus far left, Picea, Juniper, Abies, left to right, Hydrangea lower left.

Sun on my Picea glauca in my front yard:

Along with neighbors trees across the street. :-)

Thuja o. of some kind.:

By my garage. Held together by snow pile.

Neighbors Thuja along the house, that I nicely trimmed last summer. :-) and Picea glauca upper center:

Snowed another 10" yesterday & 5" day before. Getting to be a ~10 year snow event year iirc:

Still has been 0 inches of snow in my neck of the woods (NJ/Zone 7) this winter. Only snow was back in mid November when 5-6 inches paralyzed everything/everyone with lots of finger-pointing to go around. So since then, there's been salt spread whenever it turns cloudy, but the storm track has been to west of the area and INLAND with copious precip to the coast with more big rain forecast.

Biggest issue to the trees in the mild, Pacific NW is probably going to be snow load issues. Might be informative to keep track of which conifers and broadleaved evergreens suffer the most.

Well, I definitely do not need to get down flat to take snow close-up photos this morning........there is a bunch out there now!! Started off slow and very light around noon yesterday and I was sure we were going to get just a dusting again. By night fall there was hardly any accumulation. But that changed overnight......there is something like 4-5 inches out there now and many places are reporting as much as foot or more.

subtropix, you are correct...snow loads are a BIG issue. Snow here tends to be wet and very heavy. The evergreen magnolia has already been damaged if you can see in the photo (image to the left - the right is a giant rhody whch looks untouched):

And this the view into the woods that surround my back garden:

And I need to get out there and clean off the hummingbird feeder tout de suite!! They were not happy about its cap of snow blocking the nectar holes!!

Can't see much of the rest of my garden.......it is all amorphous lumps :-)

Hummingbird is very glad I cleaned off (and heated up) the feeder!! He is perched at it now, all puffed up against the cold.

Gardengal, I have several different cultivars of M. grandiflora..., along with lots of gorgeous pics of them covered with snow (all from previous years)! I can tell you, that I see big time differences in their vulnerabilities to snow loads (and this in a climate where ALL cultivars have more than enough heat for adequate ripening of the wood in the summers). Our snows also tend to be very weight heavy, but freezing rain and ice is usually not as common. Can't tell you how heartbroken I felt when we had some damage done to them under extreme accumulations of the sticky and heavy sort. Even so, differences were noted. I had little damage to 'Victoria', and 'Edith Bogues', even not so much for Little Gem (and they are not the hardiest as you know). My worst damage is on more vertical growing cultivars of Alta or Teddy Bears (with the DEER also prefer btw!). Snow seems to get trapped on these while in the more horizontal sprawling varieties, the branches merely bend down. As the snow melts, branches right themselves with no issues. Even those varieties that do get hit by the snow, they usually show excellent recovery in the next growing season.

Curiously, the very worst damage I have ever seen from snow occurred several years ago when there was a freakish snowfall on Halloween and the leaves were still on broadleaved evergreen trees (including deciduous Saucer Magnolias). I saw many trees splint down the middle of their trunks. Southern Mags were curiously immune and I had no issues! Bizarre.

What kind of hummers do you commonly get, GG?

Anna's are year round residents here and that's who is visiting the feeder now. And seasonally we get Rufous and Calliopes.

tiful

Since Green Larry is having issues getting this forum to accept his typing, that should be “beautiful”, I imagine.

" Still has been 0 inches of snow in my neck of the woods (NJ/Zone 7) this winter. "

You are not alone. According to the map, the mountainous regions and northern areas are the only ones showing snow depth to any extent. Possibly why the low participation in this thread with so many Z5 and above growing areas showing near zero amounts of snow. A little odd for this time of year?

Have had slightly above average snow here in west MD so far -- around 22". Snows have been interspaced w/milder weather & then melt. Snowing here right now.....

We're starting to call snow the 'S word'. Guessing 48" so far with more predicted all next week. :-|