Wiest: Mother Nature blankets the village in degrees of white

To anyone stuck inside, last week was truly magical - snow everywhere. However, I spent the better part of two days shovelingand that was just one storm! After each incident, I thought my hand would never recover from the shovel shape of my glove.

I look outside my window and wonder how my garden will survive and how it will look in the coming months. So many shrubs arched over from the weight of the snow and ice. I wonder if they will recover. The tall, majestic bamboo confined to the corner of my yard has several stems that touch the ground. I love them because they provide year-round green and gently move in the wind. But now the outer most stems have taken on a different posture. If anyone were sitting around the fire pit in my backyard, they would surely be tickled by its leaves.

I am more concerned about the arborvitaes that I have planted as screening material along a portion of my side yard. When I opened the mini blinds from my bedroom window, I saw the row of evergreens bent over like dominoes.except they were every which way and not a straight line like in the game. Even though they have been bent in prior storms, the stakes I inserted near the center of the shrub and tied the stems with twine have not held the shrubs in place. It makes me sad to think that I might have to replace them.

It is said that snow is an insulator. According to an article I read that appeared in the Dec. 29 edition of the Chicago Tribune, "fresh snow is an excellent insulator. Ten inches of fresh snow is approximately equal to a six-inch layer of fiberglass insulation." Nothing can get through the snow - no air (it's trapped in the spaces between the flakes) and no wind which is why it is such a good insulator.

In basketball, we have what's known as March Madness. Generally, it occurs sometime mid-month and only the most talented of teams square off for the national championship. I know it's only the middle of February, but somehow or another, I think that's when we will finally see some green earth. I'll call it the March Meltdown. And maybe it will be just in time for my favorite nursery plant sale at Eisele's Nursery in Paramus.

In the meantime, there are some great very early spring bulb plants to look forward to seeing. They are Snowdrops (Galantus woronowii), Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), and Crocus (Crocus).

Between the mountains of snow everywhere, I have no idea when the winter snowdrops will make their appearance. Right now they are under several feet of snow with a layer of ice somewhere in the middle. These "white-winged teardrop" blooms appear as snow melts in late winter/early spring; they are sweet, 4to-6 inch dainty blooms and are best for rock gardens.

Winter aconite have honey-scented yellow flowers that carpet the earth. They naturalize easily in lawns, rock gardens and under trees; they are self-seeding and will continue to reward the gardener year after year. Most of my readers know I am a fan of Cecily Mary Barker. This is her "Song of the Winter Aconite Fairy":

Deep in the earth

I woke, I stirred.

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Wiest: Mother Nature blankets the village in degrees of white