Seattle Shrouded in Ice - Snow as the Great Landscape Designer

I don't remember ever hearing ice pellets crack against the windows in Seattle before.  It's a delicate yet threatening sound; I've lived here my whole life and it took me awhile to figure out that was ice beating on the windows this morning. It brought back memories of being caught in a Portland ice storm years ago, and that relentless iciness beating at the windows. Now it's as if we're shrouded in ice - it's dangerously slippery to walk, let alone drive.

While waiting for the promised warm front to bring in rain later today and melt all this treacherous beauty, take a few minutes to look at how snow erases so much of the landscape. It brings the open, empty spaces into relief so we can see and appreciate them. Forms and shapes of plants stand out, while their  textures and details disappear.

It's as if the snow has pruned our gardens of what's extraneous, allowing us to see the all-important bones and structure of the landscape. For those of us who are on a mission to simplify our gardens, there's a clear lesson in this if we take the time to look.

Horizontal lines of wall and hedging contrast with and the pruned peaks of little conifers, on Highland Drive, Queen Anne hill yesterday morning...

Comments

[Chris]

Beautiful!! This morning when I was shaking the heavy ice crusted snow off branches that I was worried would break under the weight, I thought...I'm gardening in the dead of winter...or should I say, the life of winter? I could hear the loud, popping noise of branches breaking in the forest. It was quite eerie!
Now, if only the sun would come out...can you imagine the dazzle??