The Winter Just Keeps on Going

One week after the next the snow just keeps piling up, and although I am grateful for the clean cover, I know that the rabbit and vole damage, and the broken plants lie just below the surface.  It is beautiful again, with the recent 6 inches of snow that fell on Thursday.  But the temps are cold again and it seems like winter.  We're thinking about what we will do with the pond in the spring, and I just looked up and found that the pond water unfroze last year on April 5th.  That is only a month away, but it seems impossible that such a thing would happen this year.  Once the snow and frost does clear, we have to move away all of the rocks and stones from the perimeter of the current pond and then I have to keep an eye out for the emergence of any and all plants around the area.  They will each have to be dug and moved or saved to be replanted.  I am concerned about the ligularia that is just behind the gargoyle.  I have heard that the roots of ligularia grow very deep, and I don't know if I'll be able to transplant it - almost certainly it will be set back.  With luck, it will be dividable and I can plant the divisions in places where they will thrive.  As the yard grows, there is more shade, and some of the plants that were originally put in sunny spots may well do better elsewhere.

The photo I'm posting today is a view from inside the house during the latest storm - last Thursday.  The contrast is interesting to me.  Snow re-covering the yew outside and the German ivy thriving in the kitchen window inside.