Magical Snow

Christmas was wonderful. The power of a blanket of white snow cannot be overestimated and it is no wonder that the Village of East Hampton is touted as the prettiest anywhere. Though there was no sign of the longed-for expensive tree peonies under the save-the-forest fiber-optic tree --- there was great spirit in our home: Peppermint martinis with candy canes as swishers (another great entertaining invention of Lys Marigold) and loads of red and white amaryllis (some real, some very good fakes) swimming in boughs of varying kinds of ever-so-greens and great presents: fabulous art-like hardback pop-up books, 3 golden things, 2 garden tomes, one silk hat... But it was the snow that made everything so magical...
The white barked birches looked even whiter...




The golden green of the ' FernSpray Gold' Hinoki cypress seemed the grasp at the whiteness...
The snow reddened the branches of the coralbark Japanese maple
And look at the really red leaves of the Nandina! This great plant (also called Heavenly Bamboo) looks lousy in the spring and takes forever to come into its own in early summer; but the autumn and winter rewards are wondrous...
And if it's even possible for Mahonia to look more elegant ...the snow is the icing on the proverbial cake...

You should have seen me as the first flakes of the eventual 24 inches of fluffy fabulous snow began to fall on December 17..... struggling to stretch my dwindling roll of burlap around the most precious and vulnerable of my not-yet-ready-for-ice specimens. It was Bob Dash's article in the East Hampton Star that urged me on...
I even found a new use for the great Dianne B English Garden Twine...it threads through the burlap (which you can buy by the roll from the great horticultural Supply Company A.M. Leonard) just by loosely weaving it in and out - so the twine becomes a giant spool of thread - it's just great...



Simultaneously deep in awe of our winter wonderland and deep up-to-my-knees in the profound white stuff....once again I was struck by how every single thing that contributes to the garden counts....