Hi, all. I had to go north this am [6:30] It usually doesn't rain much here; b-u-t........ I took my camera thinking I might see some flora or fauna. All I saw was rain, snow, mud, water [hydroplaning is fun]. This photo is of ABERT RIM, the highest visible fault in north america. It's about 20 miles north of me. Good deer hunting up on top, according to hubby. but the drop off is quite sudden.
OK here's another family story. This photo is of the Summer Lake Harris School built in the 1800s. It was on land donated by my sister-in-law's great grandfather Harris. You can see the weather for yourself. In the summer quite often rattle snakes are in the road when yiou drive by. This was taken about 7:30 this morning.
This photo is of Summer Lake. It is a totally alkali lake that dries up a lot in the summer and because the wind blows a lot around Summer Lake it looks like a tornado coming.
The old school house picture is beautiful. Between the weather and the classic old building it looks like something you should frame.
It warmed up enough to have the snow starting to droop from the top of my pergola but then it froze again before the snow dropped. The snow then looked like garlands draped from the wood. ^_^
~Brenda
There is nothing supporting the snow, it just starts to melt and give way and then it turns very cold fast and it freezes in place. A close up..
You can see the ones that did break off behind this one....
~Brenda
This message was edited Mar 2, 2009 9:03 PM
That's pretty. I love what snow and cold can do to things. BUT what is a pergola?
Beautiful area where you live. That school building is really pretty. I love old historic buildings!
Pergolas/Arbors: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=images+of+pergolas&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=Ia-sSY_mGcH7tgfy_4CMBg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title
Brenda, now that is really cool seeing how the snow actually froze! This southerner has never seen such a thing!
edited to say: Y'all can have your cold temperatures back though! ^_^ We are going to have wind chills here tonight! Our low is going to be 35º and it's been windy all day. Ocala, Florida which is about 45 minutes west of us is going to be at 28º so I guess I shouldn't complain. We have Azaleas blooming and my Maple tree and a couple of others have already leafed out!
This message was edited Mar 2, 2009 11:21 PM
Nice link with the pergolas Lin.
I do feel for you down there in FL because your so NOT used to those kinds of temperatures and they wreak such havoc with the plants and citrus etc.
I still have to smile though because even a high of 35 has been rare here this winter. ^_^ We woke up to 8 below zero last Friday morning. But today it reached 48!! Woo Hoo, I had to take my coat off when I went to town. LOL
We have white water rafting areas all around us and I have seen the rapids with all the waves and peaks of water frozen in mid air, amazing!!
Mortswife here's my before the pergola (from this past summer)
And here is my after .... as you can tell it's like adding another room with the "feeling" it gives. I only get to actually use it the few short summer months we get but it I love it!
~Brenda
Hmm, maybe a view from inside will give you the "room" feeling I get .....
so you could hang, like a ton, of plants and flowers????
Yep, that's the plan this summer! I have maybe two months I can hang inside plants outside but I want to give it a whirl .... ^_^
I want to start some morning glories to climb around out there and incorporate other outside plants too! It will all be new to me but I'll have fun with it.
~Brenda
Wouldn't a Wisteria grow well there...? Disciduous (sp?) in the winter...but so beautiful in the summer!!!
Mortswife - beautiful photo!!!
I always heard that morning glory is hard to get rid of once it's there. At least that's what my mama told me when I was a kid and had to hoe, hoe, hoe, it along with Canadian Thistle!
the pictures are really beautiful,still a little to cold for my likeing, but surely a beauty.
mrsbonnie
Brenda, your Pergola is Wonderful! Did y'all build that yourselves or have it installed?
I love arbors and pergolas. I've wanted my DH to build me one for years but he just doesn't have the time. Well, actually he is off a lot of time during the year ... being a college professor he has a week off during spring break, three weeks at Christmas and a month and a half to two months during the summer, plus a day or two between terms ... you'd think he would have time to build, LOL. Seems like there's always something going on though. He has spring break coming up the week of 3/16 but has jury duty. When he's off during the summer we like to take the boat out when we can and there always seems to be projects around the house that need doing, just hasn't found the time for doing extras like building a pergola! I would look into buying one pre-made but it would cost so much more going that route.
I look forward to seeing photo's of yours once you have the morning glories twining arond, it will be lovely! You could plant wisteria or jasmine, some sort of permanent deciduous vine and plant the morning glories to mingle throughout.
Thank You Carol! I did not dare to think there was some type of beautiful climbing and flowering plant that would grow and come back each year in my zone! I'm new to outside gardening that goes beyond pots! After seeing your suggestion this morning I went and did some research and I did find several types of Wisteria that will grow in a 4 zone and one that will grown down to zone 3! You can bet I'll be asking the local nursery about them come spring. Thanks again, it would be so perfect to have one to enjoy each year!
Lin I asked and wheedled and begged for this pergola for several years but this past summer I finally flat out jumped up and down!! ^_^ And you know what, our son came to help my husband along with a friend who is an excellent carpenter and can you believe they built that whole thing in 5 hours!! Five hours!! and I had to beg for years for it, sheesh! The cost came in at under $500.00 and the main portion of that was the huge main beam we had to have in order to span the 24 foot width of the deck. With a smaller one the cost to do it yourself would be much less. I'll be rooting for you.....LOL
Mortswife there are several types of morning glories nowadays that say they are non invasive. My daughter planted some at a much lower elevation and her neighbor had a fit thinking they'd go crazy but the seed packet said "noninvasive" and it was right.
Here where it is so cold and still hits freezing even on some summer nights the only thing I have to worry about is getting morning glories to bloom at all!! ^_^
~Brenda
Brenda, a couple of suggestions for vines that would grow in your zone:
Virginia Creeper: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1695/ This vine can be rather invasive here in the deep south, taking over everything in it's path, but I love it. It grows along our fence and if we don't keep it in check, it covers the gate and starts climbing the side of the house. We had that problem with Jasmine years ago. I made a mistake of planting a very small jasmine vine next to the house to climb the rain gutter/drain pipe. The branches got as big around as my arm and climbed that aluminum pole and attached to the shingles on the roof of the house! My husband had a heck of a time getting it down! The birds love the berries in fall and the fall color is absolutely stunning, especially farther north!
Golden Clematis: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/829/
Possibly some of the Honeysuckle? Some do survive -30º winters. A couple I found: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/829/ and this one: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/102911/
mortswife, I loved looking at your awesome pictures, and bmedel, I sure don't miss the snow, but loved it hanging from your pergola.
Great pictures. You both should post them on the Photo forum. I lurk there once in a while.
