2 inches of snow

A 2 inch snowfall closed down the state... I feel bad for those folk stuck in gridlock traffic in Atlanta for 24 hours or so... I always did hate that Atlanta traffic...

* This pic is from first thing this morning (Jan 29,2014). They've been sitting there all night. Some of the motorists have been out there in their cars for 16 hours.*

The schools didn't bother to open around here... not sure what they were thinking in Atlanta... The Governor is blaming the metrologists... but... He's going to have to take some responsibility... eventually...

 Personally, I listened to the weather report... and paid attention to their warnings to stay home...

I posted a similar picture of my house back on January 2011

A bit closer...

A bird in the bush...

elephant's foot covered in snow. (Elephantopus sp.).
The next day... the birds came to gather seed.

A bird eating elephant's foot seed.
I got a lot of pics of birds in the elephant patch... but the birds are difficult to distinguish from the stems...
I posted flowers from the elephant's patch back in August.

Bluestem covered in snow.

Hibiscus aculeatus

Snow covered hellebores

Bloom peaking out from snow cover... the next day.

sumac berries

echinacea

An early look out at the street.

My rain gage is about full... Not sure if you can measure snowfall that way...

Towhee in brush-pile.

More Winter Cold

It's the kind of weather to stay inside with a nice wood fire....

And a mouse...

I am starting to see some colour again...

While these hellebore are exotic, anything that blooms in the winter is desirable...

And Mahonia... An early yellow...

Finally... a coupla bird pics...

Mocking bird... 

 I can't get those clear feeder shots... I prefer to grow their faves and create conditions they will like.

Gotta look close... Eastern towhee in the brush... their preferred habitat...

Polar Vortex

Brrr....

Got down to 7° here, and all the schools closed...

Record setting cold, and y'all can keep it.... I garden here to get away from those winter freezes.

Picture of needle ice

The frost flowers on the  verbesina virginica  grew (larger) with two consecutive days of below freezing.
Interestingly, the yellow verbesina doesn't develop these.

One more pic of frost. I can appreciate the beauty in this stuff, as long as I don't see much of it...

That nasty cold ruined my flowers.... This hellebore was gorgeous... now just brown.

Also ruined the camellia blooms...

As far as our winter edibles... The raccoons have been keeping the beds dug up, I'm not having any luck (so far) getting cool season edibles to grow... never mind the record cold... 

Happy Christmas!

Christmas day dawned cold!

The frost blooms on the verbesina look like ribbon candy...

In spite of the chill in the air... there is a bit of colour in the garden...

The camellias look nice...

The hellebores are starting to bloom...

The seed heads provide plenty of winter interest....

Ageratina altissima

Bluestem

eupatorium?

Agalinis purpurea

cudweed (gnaphalium sp.)

The wild holly berries look nice... (Ilex opaca)

mahonia

And... finally, ice crystals from the rain bucket.

After the freeze

The mercury dropped to 21 degrees Thursday morning
 breaking the previous record of 25 degrees set on Nov. 14, 1968.

Frost bloom on the salvia

Remenants of the summer garden.

Colour on the oak leaf hydrangea

Brugs laid to waste...

Well... I can still use the pepperz...

There's still seeds to collect...
(chenopodium giganteum, crotalaria spectabilis, and sesbania herbacea)

The sassafras have great colouration... Should probably collect some leaves (for recipe seasoning) before they all drop...

Goodbye Summer

A final visit from the Florida state butterfly (zebra longwing) to the tithonia rotundifolia.

A last flush of bloom from the Brugmansias

And tibouchina urvilleana

Time to collect seeds, like these few collected from the Vernonia angustifolia.

The weatherman is predicting low 20's for tonight...

Brrrr!