If one should wait for the ground to be frozen to cut chrysanthemum stems and lay them across the plants to protect the new growth, then the time for waiting is definitely over. It's frigid outside. The ground is hard. Even around noon on this shortest of days, the temperature has not improved much. Ed went outside anyway, and did some cutting back on the chrysanthemums. He came inside for lunch and to warm up. I bundled up and went out with the camera. I followed his tracks in the snow to take some pictures. This Emperor of China plant remains intact. These plants show new green growth on the old wood. Not sure of the best course of action, he decided to cut some plants down but left this one. Time will tell which works out the best.
These are the Clara Curtis mums on the South side of the stone square. They were so beautiful this year. I hope they come back. The latest snow storm didn't reach us. Only a thin layer of snow covers the garden. I can almost feel the plants shivering under their too thin blanket of snow.
I was feeling cold, but I walked over by the shade garden and the bird feeder. A woodpecker and two black cap chickadees were in the locust tree. I wonder to myself why they stay where it is so cold when they could just fly South, but then I guess the same question applies to us. We still love it here even with the cold. The water in the butterfly bath is frozen hard. I can't help noticing that white circle of ice that has formed in the center. The freezing habits of water are a complicated mystery to me. The river is freezing up too. The deep slow moving section of the river near here looks like a skating ring. The faster moving areas are thickening with floating ice. Winter has officially started. January and February can be very cold here, but at least the sun has stopped it's descent to the South. Now every day the sun will climb a little higher and the daylight will last a little longer. With that knowledge and my seed catalogs, I know I can make it to Spring
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I'll be much happier as the days get longer. I really don't like getting up in the dark. It will cheer me up. Well that and the seeds that will start coming in the mail in January.
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