Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful!

Okay, enough already! If you are like me, you're tired of all this arctic air we've been "blessed" with the last few days, and it's only the 11th day of January. Everywhere I look, I see shriveled up flowers and plants, patches of ice, and frozen fountains ... and even worse, are the stories about frozen pipes and plumbing woes.

I have to admit that I was delighted during the first few days, and took countless pictures of the ice around our waterfall and a couple of beautiful frozen fountains in Natchez. But now I'm ready for warmer temperatures (or at least our "normal" temperatures for this time of year).

I took a cold brisk walk around our yard this morning, and took a few pictures of the effects the unseasonably cold temperatures have had on our landscaping. At the time I was taking the pictures, I thought, "Oh, how drab and depressing looking," but as I edited the pictures, I realized that the shriveled and faded plants and flowers still have a certain beauty about them, in spite of the toll the cold "in-the-teens" temperatures have taken on them. (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them, if you'd like).

Sasanqua Bloom

It looked like this at Christmas ...

Even Harry, our blue heron looks cold, doesn't he!

In the summertime, this little girl statue is surrounding by lush green Asparagus Fern.

And speaking of "lush green Asparagus Ferns, these are painful to look at now.

Especially considering they looked like this just a few weeks ago ...

The only thing colorful in our yard right now is this urn of ornamental Kale plants, but they haven't grown any since I planted them in December.


Hopefully, my pansies and snapdragons will survive the cold snap and will start growing soon.

I'm sorry if I sound like I'm whining about a little cold weather. I know it could be a whole lot worse, and I'm truly thankful that we don't live somewhere like this ...

Wow, looking at that picture certainly puts things into perspective, and makes me appreciate being able to walk around in my yard and see my shriveled up and faded little plants.

My heart goes out to those of you whose world is covered with snow and ice all winter. I wish I could send you some of our Mississippi sunshine. It's supposed to be plentiful today.

8 comments:

Beth said...

Wow you really did put things in better perspective, thank you for that! I live in Texas in Zone 9 and everything here is brown, brown, brown very much like your own pictures. We planted 20 pallets of St Augustine grass last year to replenish what died from saltwater from Hurricane Ike! As long as the grass comes back, I don't care about the rest of the plants. I'm not laying 20 pallets of sod EVER again! =)

Linda @ A La Carte said...

I love the ornamental kale, it is very pretty and helps when all else is brown and frozen! Hope we get some warmer weather soon...

Marjorie (Molly) Smith said...

LOL, Harry looks like he is trying to hide in the dying grass, trying to stay warm?...lol..Yep you did put everything in prospective, got to love MS weather it's suppose to get up into the 50s this week end.
Have a blessed day
Molly

RachelD said...

Quite a few inches in our yard yet, except for the shoveled paths, the drive and the dog-walked parts.

And it's still pretty---quite white and sparkly in todays sunshine, and the late shadows are all shades of BLUE. You can walk out at midnight, and see clear to the back of the garden.

Pat@Back Porch Musings said...

Beautiful photos. It always amazes me that just a short drive south, the climate is so different!

We are to have warm temps this week, so we are headed to the lake tomorrow. The snow will quickly become a muddy mess, with temps nearing and perhaps hitting 40. The temp as I type at 10am is 21. This feels great.

We are accustomed to colder temps. We both have gone with light jackets or fleece vests for most of the winter. When we have 40's, it feel like shirtsleeve weather! Our children had a visitor from CA last week. She just about froze!:-)

Deb said...

it is finally getting back to normal here in Texas...more like our winter than the great Norhern we've been having...sun is shining today...but they are saying rain at the end of the week...

Donna said...

I live in Alabama and the temps here have been so cold for us! I do feel for the people north of us with so much snow. It has been in the 30's here to day with sunshine! Yea!! Love your pics.

parTea lady said...

Your garden is lovely, even with some frozen and faded plants. Thanks for the tour. Looking at the last picture sure makes me thankful for my GA weather.