Sunday, January 27, 2013

A brief taste of winter in my yard.

Icicles on the bird feeder.
Grass.
Harry Lauder's walking stick (a contorted filbert).
Dogwood buds.
Hibiscus.
Euonymous (burning bush).
Holly.
Clematis.
Nandina berries.

40 comments:

  1. Great photos! I especially like the ice daggers and the autumn clematis seed head (#8).

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    1. Thank you. I decided to go back and label them after reading this first comment.

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  2. Beautiful. Especially the curvy branch thingys in the third one down. Must be awfully cold for you,though.

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    1. Just labeled it - that's a Harry Lauder's walking stick, one of my all-time favorite garden shrubs.

      And yes, very cold for me!

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  3. looks rather icy...that thrid pic is just amazing all the icy swirls of vine...

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    1. Thank you - that's actually a shrub, the branches grow in an amazing contorted way.

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  4. Funny how different the plants look when they're shrouded in ice. We've had surprisingly little ice so far this winter.

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    1. We haven't until this weekend. And it's already all gone.

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  5. The recurrent theme seems to be icicles :) I do like all of the pictures! I used to enjoy seeing the icicles on buildings when we lived in Montana; especially the big long ones (just so they wouldn't fall and hit anyone in the head)

    betty

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    1. That morning there were icicles hanging from absolutely everything!

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  6. Stunning. And I mean STUNNING photos!!!!

    The third one down is truly amazing!

    There is something so utterly gorgeous to me about how ice looks over trees, grass, bushes, all of nature; creating a beautiful crystal piece of art!

    Thank you so much for sharing. Really enjoyed!

    X

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    1. Thank you! When the Harry Lauder's walking stick is covered in ice it's like looking into some sort of magical maze.

      You're welcome!

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  7. Is this a macro setting you use to get such great close-ups? I love the feeling of "fingers" in the first icicle photo.

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    1. Nope - I just zoom in as close as I can and then crop to get even closer.

      The first one made me think of the hand of an ice wizard.

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  8. Love the colour on those nandina berries! We have nandina, but no ice on it yet! Short sleeves today.....

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    1. I like nandina because they are the one real bit of color in my yard in the depths of winter.

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  9. oh i especially love the clematis! that one really captivates me.

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    1. Thank you. I keep going back for shots of the seed heads because they intrigue me.

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  10. They call that a 'sliver thaw' in Oregon. It happens maybe once a year, sometimes less. I've seen a two inch coating on everything, trees, cars, roads. Branches break off, power lines go down, and you can't get into your car without an ax. I'd know when it occured, usually at night, because of the dead silence in the morning. Cars were silly to even try to drive.
    Beautiful, but debilitating.

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    1. Sliver thaw. Why thaw?

      I took one look at my driveway and just closed the door. I have no interest in being one of the folks sliding into another car!

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    2. Huh. Darned if I know. I tried google, nothing definitive there. Silver for the color I suppose, but thaw...no idea. It's the term I've always heard growing up in Oregon.

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    3. Oh silver, not sliver. Well, at least that part makes sense.

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  11. Magical. I absolutely loved these photographs, and am envious of your fantastic artistic eye.

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  12. How cool is that! Your pictures are fabulous. Hope it's warmer that than it looks.
    xo jj

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    1. It is now, but it was pretty chilly the day I took the photos.

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  13. We got the thinnest coat of icing so not much to sparkle. You really got a lovely thick layer and it's all so gorgeous!

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    1. It really was beautiful. But I worry for the plants it was covering.

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  14. All the photos are fabulous, but I especially like the dogwood. I heard the freezing rain coming down last night and husband shoveling the driveway at 5 am. Oh the joys of winter!

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  15. Oo, it looks like you had an ice storm! The trees look so pretty when each branch is sparkling with ice. It's the pretty side of an ice storm.

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  16. We don't get many ice storms. That is really beautiful. I think that you have many varieties of plants that are not able to grow well here. But I would imagine the ice will be hard on them.

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    1. We don't either, so I wanted to capture it while I could. But you're right - the plants have started budding early and I don't think the ice is a good situation for them.

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  17. All frozen in time. Amazing pictures.

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  18. beautiful photograph taken.. pretty cool ..

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  19. Awesome shots! Love the icicles and the shot of the grass is amazing.

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  20. It looks so pretty when you show it. Over here though, I'm completely over it. Done.

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