Winter 2010’s Toll on Papa’s Gardens

January and February of 2010 brought storm like the area has never seen before.  The latest being nearly 50 inches of snow in a 2 day period.  The attached photo is a view less than 24 hours after the snow began to fall.

Casualties in and around my house were all too common.  Evergreen trees and bushes took the most damage- the heavy snow toppled many or broke of branches like an angry pruner.  Another unforeseen issue was related to the volume of snow that fell.  Quickly, everyone ran out of places to put all of the snow.  Like me, most forgot was was living below the piles first created by mother nature and added to by our shovels.

The snow was so deep I forgot one area contained a prized mini maple tree.  It had already been buried by natural snowfall and in my rush to get the walks and driveway clear I put another 2-3 foot of snow on top of the area where the tree was covered.  Not long after things thawed I discovered what a mistake this was.  The fine branches of the tree held the snow and weight as long as it could.  At some point it became too much and the branches gave way- cracking, splitting and clear breaking away from the main branches of the tree.  The overall damage is shocking and it will take many years for the tree to recover to the beauty and shape it held just months ago.

The last nasty way so much “green” was effected were by the hands and blades of the plow drivers.  I was lucky and had no such damage on my property but see it in quite a few places.  Run over saplings, scrapped up yards, toppled planters, trees plowed into, trunks scrapped raw and more.  In some cases I wonder what the plow driver had against the tree or plant!