Mother Nature's Gift

One of the things that I love about my home is the outside gardens that we are able to enjoy year round. I have talked about my hydrangea gardens that bloom in the spring and bless us with an amazing bounty of blooms from March through sometimes as late as November. We also have many other beautiful flowering trees and shrubs that bloom at varying times during the year.

You would think that winter would be lacking in beautiful things to look at as most flowering trees and shrubs are in hibernation; however, I have found that a winter garden brings it's own unique beauty.

I have talked of our coral bark maple whose bark is the most brilliant color of red in the winter months and our yellow twig dogwood whose limbs are a particularly beautiful shade of yellow.

 We also have shrubs whose leaves also turn a beautiful shade of red during the winter months and beautiful holly trees and shrubs with a bounty of red berries to share.

I have come to love this time of year and the blessing of having a winter garden. This past weekend, we had a short lived ice storm come through.

It was enough to close schools on Friday and also to leave our beautiful trees and shrubs covered in lovely layer of gleaming ice.

The ice gifted by Mother Nature in our storm highlighted all of my favorite shrubs and trees giving them the appearance that they were dressed to go to a magical Winter Ball.

   How lovely they all looked in their fine glass bobbles and glimmering gems all given by their very own Mother Nature!