Skiers must be happy with the snow that looks like it will stick around all week, but even if you don't take to skiing, a snowstorm like the one we just had presents all sorts of opportunities.
There's the chance for a no-salt collaboration with nature: scrape as much snow as possible off the driveway in the morning, then
let the sun do the rest.
While covering some things up, snow makes other things more visible, like the form of this young blackgum tree at the Botanical Art Garden in Herrontown Woods.
Clinging snow highlights last year's tulip-shaped blooms high up in a tulip tree.
It makes white pine trees mischievous, sending snowballs my way as a breeze shakes the snow off the top of the tree. Ever get in a snowball fight with a tree? The tree will win every time.
Snow makes a botanical art garden more art than garden, turning trees into sculptures.
Clinging snow also highlights the shape of a coppiced elderberry bush. Cut down last year because it was too big for its location, it sprouted lots of shoots that can be harvested later this winter to make "live stakes" to plant where we want new elderberry bushes to grow.
Snow adds frosting to aging rootballs. We left most of the fallen trees in the Botanical Art Garden as art and habitat. Insects need wood for food and lodging. Come to think of it, the drop in insect numbers in recent years may be due in part to a lack of extended snow cover in the winter--cover that in the past insulated them from extremes of temperature.
Snow is also really good at
recycling light in the light-poor winter, and providing clues as to where you're losing heat through your roof.
It's pretty good for skiing and sledding, too.
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