Saturday, December 3, 2011

Thyme for a Touch of Snow


This morning we awoke to find a thin layer of snow covering the landscape. Everything was cold and white. The morning sun shown brightly off the white surface making a picture from inside the house impossible. Up until this morning anything that landed on the garden's planting beds has melted immediately or very early in the morning. Today was different. The ground is colder. It was cold enough that anyplace shaded from the sun still has a light trace of snow in the afternoon. This thyme is shaded by the stone wall. Because it is out of the sun's reach, the snow remains. The temperature has begun to drop. It will not melt now.


This morning the entire top of the stone square has a thin frosting of white. Anywhere the sunlight could reach on the wall the snow disappeared. Not even moisture remains on most of the stones. This particular stone is tilted ever so slightly away from the south. That and the shade from the Baptisia kept the snow on this stone from melting.  It is a perfect example of the  cooling power of  shade and the incredible warming power of the winter sun.

4 comments:

Beth at PlantPostings said...

How pretty--just a dusting is a nice amount. I love the misty scene in your header picture, too! The anticipation of winter is fun. Enjoy!

Esther Montgomery said...

My garden would probably be zapped by frost or snow - it simply isn't geared up for it. None the less . . . I really would like it to snow here again this winter.

fru Sandeggen said...

Long time since I had time to leave a comment. I pop by from time to time though, love to see your beautiful pictures :)

It's exactly the same amount of snow here, on the other side of the world. You're the lucky one, you got sun ;)
Enjoy!

-Hilde

Donna said...

we had what I call snost..snow on frosted plants...lovely