Ken, indeed the snow felt together with a very strong wind. But that was yesterday, today we've a sunny sky which is beautiful to take a couple more pics. Here in The Netherlands we will have about 30cm (20inches)of snow, but mostly not for a long time. Every winter here is differend so it's hard to tell how long it will stay. Last winter we had spring temperatures till the end of January but in the beginning of February we had a very cold wind from Siberia which was not so good for a lot of plants... Last night it was about -10 degrees Celcius (14 degrees F.)so the conifers are hardened off and are in winter rest now. The barbed wire fence is to keep the elephants out of my property, by doing this they can't bring no damage to my conifers. It works pretty well, I didn't see one here since it was placed... Zsolt, you're right, this time of year my Pinetum is crowded with white variegated conifers. Somethimes also a yellow-whitish variegated one appaers, but that's only an indication that the neighbour's cat was there recently... Beng, like I told to Ken, this winter now seems to be a lot better then the one we had last year. I'll cross my fingers that the temperatures will stay low till the beginning of February... Alex, the last 4 winters were pretty cold, only for a short time with average temperatures of -22 degrees Celcius (-7.6 degrees F.) For now all looks ok, but wintertime has just started... I only cover my young grafted conifers, all the others will stay in uncovered because they can stand the low temperatures very well. This is because I export them to the more colder European countries in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, even Russia were the winter temperatures could be much lower then here in The Netherlands. Tunilla, it seems that the biggest part of Europe is covered with snow now. I prefer better to have snow on my shovel then sh*t. The first one doesn't smell, however frozen sh*t doesn't smell eiter ;0) How about some pics of the plants you bought from me last spring? You promised us those a long time ago... Severn, those are pollarded willows indeed. They're very old specimens and are protected for that reason. The sandy soil here in this enviroment is pretty moisty but never to wet, this is because it's mixed with some gravel. Some more... Pinus strobus 'Ed's Broom' Pinus sylvestris 'Aurea' Picea balfouriana (l) and Picea jezoensis (r)

Jay, Happy Winter Wonderland Moment! Happy Postcard Perfect Picture Moment! I'm having a mud and puddle type of day myself, and truly find it hard to see the beauty in mud (not that I want snow or ice either, even though it is much more picturesque). I've been watching next week's forecast very, very closely and reading what the experts are saying about the models. I'm a little concerned about the cold temps some are forecasting beginning last next week. Some of the weather bloggers on Wunderground foresee temps dipping down as low as the 30s all the way down along parts of the Texas Gulf Coast. Of course, it is too early to know how that cold front will shape up or what path it will travel, but some knowledgeable meteorologist types are fretting over a cold spell like the one that affected much of the CONUS in early January. I know that having real winter weather in winter means that spring might actually be more 'normal' and not late as it has been in recent years. So, at least there's that. I hate to complain about the rain since our county is more often drought-challenged than flood-challenged, but enough is enough. I wish I could send the next month of rain here to you and Jan instead. At least all of us are here in OK, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri and we are not in places like Maryland, which may get 24" of snow from this current cold wave that hit us as rain and is moving towards the northeast. I don't know if the folks expecting 24" of snow are excited about it or dreading it, but I'd be dreading if I lived there. I bet one day we'll look back at this as the winter that just wouldn't end, but at least you and Jan and other gardeners, farmers and ranchers are getting some badly needed moisture instead of your usual near-constant drought. Maybe I'll take up catfish farming instead of veggies farming. I've certainly got the full (and overflowing) ponds for it right now. LOL Dawn

Big evening discussion topic here in the Upper Mississippi Valley: Should we get flood insurance? 38 degrees today in the woods of Wisc. (higher than our house in St. Paul) but temp heading down again...not much is gonna melt for a while yet...My car looks like it took a saltwater bath...am beginning to dream about taking a Caribbean vacation, next year when the kitchen is done...

Hey Kelly Actually we winterized the pool the Mon after Thanksgiving. The day of the pic, the H2O temp was 35 and the air 33. The next day we had ice so will need lots of sunshine come Feb to warm things up. The tree line in our backyard is just tall enough to block the sun by the end of Sept. By mid Feb the sun is high enough to warm up the building. We start up for the season the first weekend of April and typically run the heater a few hours to bring us from mid 70's to 80 then let the sun work its magic until mid Sept. We don't heat the air at all but the heat from the H2O does a nice job Oct/Nov although it gets a bit foggy!!