Winter Interets is supposed to be, especially  here in New England, the myriad of  objects d’art and well thought out plant choices we use in the garden to make our winter garden just as stunning to look at as the garden in summer.  But THIS winter, honestly… why did we bother?  ! WHO COULD POSSIBLY SEE IT??  You know I am a snow lover, but with the constant storms and low temps the snow pack has risen to unbelievable heights and the garden is all but lost under it.

I went out to take some pictures this morning because new snow had fallen during the night and before the sun comes out and melts it off the branches the world to me looks so calm,and so beautiful. The blanket of snow conjures up images of snow days off from school, sledding and hot cocoa, yet lest you think I have fallen off my rocker and cracked my head, I know when I fully wake up have coffe and the morning begins it will conjure up images of shoveling, crappy driving conditions and more roof raking.

As I was taking the photos it occured to me that what was in the lens was the tops of things. After 50 or more inches of unmelted snow cover in the past few weeks, here in my garden you can enjoy the lovely tips of the 2   chamaecyparis obtusa ‘nana lutea’ s  I planted so I could see their stunning yellow and green needles against the snow, and you can’t even see their cousin , the glowing golden chamaecyparis psifera’gold mop’ at all.

 Buried also are the hollies and winterberries whose bright berries should pop out against the white blanket that surrounds them, and also provide me with some bird watching too. Really you can’t see even one obelisk,  colored twig, or interesting branch structure, unless it was already more than 5 feet off the ground. So now I wonder,  how much more will I miss?  The stupid forsythia, plum  and other branches I could bring in to force into bloom are in the way back of the yard and I would need snowshoes to go cut any. I haven’t even seen the rock  garden since December. The early blooming clematis vines (c.alpina and c. macropetala) may still be  buried under when their time comes to bloom. The last time we had this much snow , we had to shovel it out of the pool area (where the fence insulates it) In MAY!

Although she is not technically “winter interest” , Pumpkin is providing us with quite  a bit of frolicking fun. The dogs , because of their little legs,  have many paths (gruelingly shoveled out day after day by Erin and I- our side yard looks like a habitrail) but she is adventurous and loves to walk up and over the crusted snow pack. The snow level is even with the new fence, so she could  walk right on outa here, but inevitably her rear end will sink down into the snow as she makes her way and she is scared into turning back. She is also drawn to those irresistable  bobbing tips of all my shrubs poking out of the snow cover.  See her there…behind her is the wire that tops the fence and in front is the top of  hydrangea paniculata ‘limelight’ ( a very large shrub by the way) and a bit of the weeping birch.

So, anyway,….. I did what any desperate person does, and took pictures of the top of things. The crabapples (malus ‘robinson”)  add some nice color,  what you can see of the weeping birch looks cool as well as the Harry lauders walking stick in all it’s contorted glory. The tops of a trellis covered in snow  , the tree tops that look like shrubbery, the few pieces of garden art that are placed up high, are all the winter interest we can see. …….but they are no less beautiful for their scarcity….now where’s that coffee…time for my reality check