R has his hands full, cleaning up the storm damage.
It was plenty beautiful. Our house is completely hidden at the end of that little trail through 18″ of snow that lingered for a week.
Even when the sun came out, the snow stayed…it was so cold.
The ancient cherry tree in front had two huge limbs shatter.
They were kind enough to descend slowly to rest gently on the roof of the deck.
Limbs came down from many of the large evergreens that circle the property.
The little birch grove along the drive is sadly depleted.
The devastation to the ‘Thunderhead’ pine was, to me, the greatest blow. I’m pretty sure it will recover but it had reached a configuration that I had been working on for 10 or more years. Other things that got some extreme pruning from Mom Nature were Ozothamnus several Ceanothus and a mature Cornus kousa. The sun is shining today, Joy Creek will open soon and spring gets closer every day. Time, indeed to keep clam and carry on.
Ooh, sorry about the loss of so many branches and your poor pine! I’ve learned the hard way to go out with a broom when the snow is heavy like that to knock the snow and lighten the load. Wet snow is the worst (no, maybe ice is the worst)!
The snow was dry, but so much of it.
OH MY GOSH. Ricki, I am so sorry. Wow, you guys got the brunt of it. That pine tree 🙁 After 10 years. Ouch. Well, once it’s cleaned up you’ll never notice, right?
R now has a perfect excuse to wield those loppers.
Ouch! Often as I bemoan SoCal’s drought and pretty as I think snow looks, the difficulties of dealing with weather extremes in your region are daunting to say the least. Best wishes with the clean-up.
Thanks, Kris…I guess we all have our different crosses to bear.
What a shame about Thunderhead. And the rest of your plant darlings too for that matter. I hope we’re done with the beautiful yet damaging weather for this year.
Yep…I’ve had my snowcation for the foreseeable future, thank you.
I’m so sorry about your Thunderhead Pine. The snow was so beautiful – and then so destructive.
They say beauty always has a price.
Oh, I’m sorry about ‘Thunderhead’. That would hit me pretty hard, too. I hope you can retrain it into something appealing. I’m glad the cherry limbs didn’t damage the roof of your deck.
I added another ‘Thunderhead’ last year that is upright in form, so the old one will have a pilling profile and that’s OK (as long as it survives the indignity of the storm).
Heart-breaking to lose 10 years of careful pruning!
I battle to prune trees, to get the shape I want. I forget to step back and check before I cut THAT branch. Oh, dear …
Pruning is an art form…still working on it.
The snowy photograph is beautiful but the damage caused is incredible. I’m assuming that this amount of snow is unusual!
I’ve heard it was the fourth most extreme since records have been kept…so yes, very unusual.
Fingers crossed that the worst is over