Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Flock My World


When I was growing up in the '60s, I can remember several Christmases where my dad and my grandpa used to get cut trees and flock them. There was this blower thing that sprayed the flocking onto the trees to make them look like they had snow on them, kind of like the trees at Our Little Acre look today.


I knew it would be gorgeous when I awoke this morning and before the wind started up and blew the snow off the trees, I bundled up again and took the camera out to take some more photos.

Baby thought she wanted to go out with me and play in the snow,
but
that didn't last long before she was looking for a way back in.


One of two 'Red Delicious' apple trees at the back of the property.
Max's Garden is to the right of this view.


Max's Garden


Looking from Max's Garden toward the back of the house.
The Japanese Garden area is to the right of the gazebo.


The Japanese Garden


The bench looks comfy, doesn't it?
Just a bit wet and cold, though.


This hedge belongs to our neighbors, but of course, we get the advantage of it, too. In a couple of months there will be a drift of Virginia Bluebells (Mertensis virginica) at its base that we planted two years ago. There are other woodland wildflowers scattered here and there along the hedge, too.


Looking toward the pool from the patio.




Simba, being part Alaskan Malamute, absolutely loves the snow and has been known to sleep in the open during a raging snowstorm, even though she has a nice, warm doghouse.

We have pictures where you can't hardly see her because she's covered in snow, sound asleep.












The only berries left on the Washington Hawthorn trees are way at the bottom. The birds have pretty well stripped the trees of them.


The red feeder is looking a little top heavy with snow and light
on the bird seed. Must remedy that!



By now, you must be wondering just how much snow we got. I measured the snow on top of the shrubs on the southeast corner of the house. Looks like about nine inches so far! It's still snowing lightly, so that may increase a little.

I'm happy we got this snow, because the temperatures are going to dip down to a low of 8º tomorrow night and the snow cover will protect the plants. What I'm dreading more than that is the pickup in the wind that's supposed to occur later today. With this much snow, that's sure to create very hazardous driving conditions.

Maybe this is winter's last hurrah? Let's hope!



17 comments:

Tee said...

Lovely...absolutely lovely. Thanks for sharing more snow. :)

Priscilla George said...

How beautiful that looks. You kitty is so silly. Thinking it would be fun to go in the snow then wanting to go inside, that's cute. Your dog is pretty! At least he lives somewhere where he is able to sleep in the snow.

Bob said...

Awwwww... I like snow! From a distance - like 624.6mi is just fine! :snicker: As always, Kylee you photos are great.

BTW, the Paulies are already blooming in S. GA!!! Going to be really cold here tomorrow, like 53° instead of our usual upper 60's/lower 70's.

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Even though I'm sick of seeing snow around here, I enjoyed seeing your garden in the snow pictures. I didn't think cats liked to go out in the snow - that's a funny shot. I hope you're right about this being winter's last hurrah.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Kylee your garden is beautiful even when flocked. I love the shape of your apple tree. You must have the gift of pruning. I wish I could develop that skill.

Rusty in Miami said...

Beautiful winter wonderland. I bet you are sick of it but it looks great to me. Our temperature is going down into the 40’s tomorrow and I can’t wait

Tom Arbour said...

Kylee-

I'm jealous of your snow. It is just beginning to stick here in C-bus. Enjoy! Great images.

Tom

min hus said...

I'm with Tom. Although I'm getting sick of winter, I'd really like ONE deep snow this year. Preferably one that shuts down the city and gets me a day off work! :)

Don't think it's going to happen though. We had rain most of the day.

Cherdecor said...

Your flocked trees are beautiful, your winter gardens are beautiful, and your black and white cat, is beautiful! There is a lot of eye candy here! Love your blog!

Connie said...

Pretty snowscapes...but I'm glad they are yours and not mine!! Our snow has been gone for several weeks now and I keep watching a little patch left on the mountain shrink away every day. I have the greenhouse cleaned up and will be using it soon. Yippee!

Unknown said...

What a pretty snow...we were having some earlier this evening, then it changed to something wetter--currently it's not doing anything at all. The storm that a lot of you had yesterday and last night is tracking this way, but we're on the mild side of the front--New Brunswick is to get lots of snow, we're getting meltier stuff, which will be messy. I'd sooner have snow like yours!

kate said...

You really got hit with a big snow. It always looks pretty in other peoples' gardens than it does in mine. I suppose that's because I can just enjoy the visual beauty of it (that quickly diminishes when I'm driving or forging a new path to the river).

Simba & Lytton would get along great - they'd both spend all their time hiding out in snowdrifts and chasing each other.

I would have enjoyed seeing the Bougainvillea tree on the Victory Garden. I can't believe I've kept the Bougainvillea alive this winter. It seems to like living in the living room window.

Mad Man Bamboo Nursery said...

Wow, what a landscape. I'd be in a world of hurt here in California if I had to deal with all that snow. But we get punished with 110 degree summers so it all equals out I suppose. Great photos, thanks for sharing!

Sean

Anonymous said...

Love your flocked shots! We had snow last night, but by morning the temperature was above freezing and all that was left was the waterlogged snow on the ground to shovel.

I am afraid that we might have another month of snow, but at least it melts quickly now.
Sandy

Unknown said...

Yet another thing we have in common... my Coco is half malamute! I thought I "lost" her once, the first winter we had her. I was upstairs cleaning, the snow was falling, and I looked outside to see what she was up to... and couldn't find a sign of a big mostly black dog anywhere.

I was scared to death that she had figured out that she could probably jump the 4ft fence, so I ran downstairs and outside in my slippers, frantically calling her name... and this big pile of snow rises up from the middle of the yard, shakes itself off, and made my puppy reappear! lol.

Does Simba "roo"? I don't know what else to call it, but apparently it's a Malamute trait... we refer to Coco as "the Wog" because she sounds like she's half dog, half Wookie! (story goes that George Lucas had a Malamute, and that's where he got the sounds for Chewbacca.)

Kylee Baumle said...

Tee ~ I know how much you love it! ;-)

Nancy ~ Oh, I agree! Red is my favorite color and especially against the white snow. We have a red birdhouse on a red post, too. You can kind of see it in the picture looking toward the pool from the patio. It's about 3 feet tall.

vanillalotus ~ All our kitties have a bit of silliness in them! It's what makes them so adorable. And yes, I think Simba would be quite unhappy if she didn't get to romp in the snow in the winters. She just loves it. Right before I took that picture of her, she was using her nose to scoop up snow and throw it.

Bob ~ Waaaaah! To have temperatures that warm and see those gorgeous purple blooms on the trees would be heaven! And anytime you want to experience a good winter, you know where to come! :-)

Mr McGregor's Daughter ~ Baby is one of the two inside-only cats, so she really didn't know what to expect when she got out there. We have six outside cats and they don't seem to mind the snow at all. They all have really thick wonderful coats of fur right now. They all get put either in the garage or the pool house every night though. I hate it when one of them isn't around when it's time to put them in. But they seem to do just fine. I'm sure they have their little hideouts away from home, too!

Lisa ~ Oh Lisa, I had to grin when I read your comment about pruning! We have an ongoing argument around here about that very thing. Romie wouldn't prune a thing and I tend to want to prune too much.

I love to prune! I even have to do it when he's at work because he'll come out and yell at me if he catches me pruning "his" trees! He's doing better, though, and he did prune that apple tree last fall, after the apples were done. I'll tell him you said he did a good job. Maybe that will encourage him to practice on the other trees. LOL.

Rusty ~ Well, it's all relative, isn't it? But 40s sounds good to me, too! So WARM!! ;-)

Tom ~ Thanks! My parents, who live just 13 miles south of us, didn't get as much snow as we did, so I'm not surprised that you didn't get as much in Columbus.

Minhus ~ I guess it was just the luck of the draw, because we have had several snows that did all but shut things down. More of them than most winters anyway!

cherdecor ~ Thank you and welcome to Our Little Acre! I hope you'll visit often!

Connie ~ Yes, I am very sick of it now, although I'm glad this one was at least pretty! I'm jealous that you get to start gardening soon!

Jodi ~ It seems like you get a lot of the same weather we do, just a little later. We get quite a bit of wind here, too, with it being so flat and nothing to break the winds when you're out in the open like we are.

Kate ~ I've seen winter pictures in your garden, and it's gorgeous! You're just used to it is all.
On Victory Garden, Jamie was making a smaller version of ones that he saw at the Getty Center Gardens. You can see a photo of those here. It's the first photo showing three of them. He used a large metal urn and some rebar. Very cool.

I have two bougainvilleas, both bought on two separate trips to Florida. They are overwintering in the basement greenhouse, but it's pretty cold down there (50s) so no blooming going on. They'll get put into the ground this spring, like last year.

Sean ~ Yes, you're right. I think that none of us like extremes for very long. Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed them!

Sandy ~ It's getting old, isn't it? Maybe we'll wake up one of these days soon and all of a sudden it will be spring with no looking back!

Kim ~ Well, I'm sorry, but I've never seen a single "Star Wars" movie. Yes, it's true. So I have no idea what sound you're talking about, but Simba does do something that sounds like "roo." She's such a silly, lovable thing. You know, in all her nearly 14 years, I have never heard her growl at anyone or anything. She's such a cupcake!

Ewa said...

Your photographs are great - I loved especially that one with The Baby :) so funny... looking for the rescue from that wet, cold stuff sticking everywhere and possible to walk on :)

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