Shoulda, coulda, but didn’t. I was aware that snow was forecast for today. Ideally, I would have taken advantage of yesterday’s sixty degree temperatures to tie the mahonia’s branches (below). Instead, I browsed the unusual number of blooms for this first week of the new year, so this morning a tall branch obstructs the path to the rear garden, clearly torn from the shrub by the weight of this clinging snow.

No doubt, more damage will be found as I survey the garden. I hope that this is the worst of it, but rarely do I see this volume of snow accumulated on branches, many that arch to the ground.

As the snowfall slackens I will grab the leaf rake to gently nudge branches, in particular ones of evergreens that might be permanently bent if the bulk of snow is not removed. Many arching branches obstruct the garden’s paths, so snow will be removed to permit passage, but I expect no more than minor damage to the garden’s dogwoods and Japanese maples.