The garden under snow
With the best part of a foot of snow over the last few weeks and the temperatures mostly staying below freezing, the garden has spent much of January under a bed of snow.
A blanket of white is actually a blessing for the plants that are covered by it. Snow consists mostly of air and, because it’s trapped by the crystals of ice, retains much of the heat released by the ground. Thus, the layer of snow acts as insulation and the temperature below it tends to stay fairly close to freezing even if it’s much colder in the air above. This can be of real benefit to plants that are only just hardy in our zone or first year perennials that can’t survive quite as much cold yet as when they mature.
Hopefully the next few mild days we have won’t melt the protective layer of snow too much as next weekend is forecast to have several nights of single digit cold!
Enjoy the photos below taken by Brian Thompson.