The White Stuff Has Arrived!

The grayscale view across the Pond Gardens this morning.

The First Snow fell last night and we woke this morning to a light layer of white covering everything. This is the snow that most people, even including myself, can be enthusiastic about: a novelty that changes the entire look of the landscape overnight, and which will likely be gone in a couple of days.

Snow at this time of year is fun. Hardly any shoveling needed, and it goes away quickly on its own. (Not the snow of February, which keeps piling on the snows of January, forming sharp ice layers between batches, becoming a gray, dirty mess that's so hard to shovel that people die of heart attacks trying to clear their front walks.) This is the fun sort of snow, just enough of it to look picturesque.

A view to the gazebo on the south end of our property.

White on white on white....

I've just about finished the last garden tasks that need to be done this year -- with the exception of planting a few last bulbs in my Front Border. The ground isn't frozen yet, so I hope to be able to do that in the next week or so.

Yesterday I finally drained, disassembled and stored away the fountain in my Paradise Garden -- I was waiting until the last decent moment to do it, because doing it symbolically meant the end of the gardening season. I know that it's actually it's been ending in stages, like bringing in the potted tropical plants, pulling out the annuals cut down by the first frost and planting bulbs for spring.

But the heart of any Paradise Garden is the water, and now the center of my favorite garden is gone. My husband suggested putting a Christmas tree in a pot there, and I wondered about a fire ring instead of a fountain -- but none of our ideas seemed right for such a garden. Better to wait for spring when it can be reborn to what it's meant to be.

The Fountain, the heart of the Paradise Garden, has gone to its winter storage.

Winter is definitely here.

It's probably time to pull out the mounds of petunias that improbably have stayed green all the way up to this point, far after our hard frosts. Oh, and to make my kids put away the patio furniture and grill.

Soon I'll put up the icicle lights across my front sunroom windows, which always looks cozy. My teenage daughter pointedly informed me this week that there are only six weeks until Christmas. It's fun to get ready for Christmas and stay warm and hygge inside with wood-burning fires, fuzzy blankets and purring cats.

Winter can be nice for a while -- I really don't mind it in December and January. I just wish it wouldn't go on for so long -- it would seem more special if it finished up in February, instead of March (or even April, like last winter). But I'll try to make the most of the enjoyable part of winter, and not think about the rest of it. Here's to an early spring!

I hope you are enjoying a cozy transition from autumn to winter in your own gardens and home this season, and that spring will come early for you too. Thanks for reading! -Beth