Today’s snow should be no more than a minor inconvenience. Temperatures have risen just above freezing, and tomorrow will be considerably milder with rain by the weekend, so this snow cover is unlikely to stick around for long.

The road out front was plowed early this morning, down to bare, wet pavement this time instead of an inch of ice. I spent a leisurely morning enjoying the scene from the snow room before clearing the driveway and nudging snow from evergreens that leaned under the weight of this wet snow.

Again, I’m reminded that the multi stemmed ‘Sky Pencil’ hollies are nearly a hopeless cause in areas of snow and ice. Even if snow is promptly removed, branches will splay. The best course is to keep the holly chopped to chest height so it retains more rigidity, but of course, few of us do such a thing. I have a few, and a columar plum yew that are splayed, but they’re mostly hidden in the jungle, so they’re not obvious.

Beyond bending and potentially breaking branches, the snow does not delay flowering of shrubs. No doubt, hellebores (below) and the various bulbs that will be hidden from sunlight will be slightly delayed, but this snow should mostly be gone in four or five days.

In the cover of snow that persisted through January, I noted an increasing presence of deer. In this fresh snowfall, I see that deer visited earlier today. Curiously, I see a number of leaves have been eaten on a sprawling anise shrub (Illicium) that barely peeks above the snow. With licorice flavored foliage, this should be resistant to deer, but I suppose there’s slim pickings, and anything green is an acceptable meal.