They called the winter storm Octavia

 She's blew into town and left a frozen world in her wake.

ice not snow

I hoped the snow that was forecast would arrive and protect the garden from subzero temperatures that threatened. We got ice instead. It looked like snow, but, it was ice. A dangerous ice that brought the city to a halt, closed schools and downed power lines.

It sparkled and beckoned me to explore, so I bundled up, grabbed my camera and ventured out.

Ice coated everything.

Trees, shrubs, grasses and power lines.

Itea virginica

Panicum virgatum

It was stunningly beautiful.

 I was shocked to find perfect Hamamelis vernalis/Ozark witch-hazel blooms under the ice.

They appeared to be waiting until the sun would release them from their winter prison!

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, I could relate to feeling like a prisoner trapped in winter ice!

heart warming blooms under the ice

But, what a delight to see those witch-hazel blooms on my Mom's memory tree! The promise of warmer days in those ice covered blooms was enough to melt my resentment towards this mean winter weather!  Yes, I will lose plants, but, others will endure, that's what life is like in a garden.

Soon the ice will melt and the witch-hazel flowers will unfurl their spidery petals and send their spicy sweet scent wafting through the garden.

That's enough for right now!

xoxogail

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.