January week 4

We had an awesome snow storm this week—the biggest snowfall in years! About 6-8" here in Williamsburg. I had a great time sledding! Here are some photos from before and after the storm:

There were a couple different blooms to be found this week. A large wintersweet in CW was loaded with fragrant flowers,

and this witchhazel was blooming in the Adam's Garden.

On the non-blooming side of things, this aucuba was looking good,

and this laurel oak is just as green as ever.
By the way, it's surprising how long a Halloween pumpkin will last outside.
Here's a quick overview of ferns in winter. This resurrection fern is handling the cold temperatures just fine,
but other ferns are long gone. You can see why ostrich fern gets its name.and these easily identifiable spore fronds let you know where the sensitive ferns were.
Other evergreen ferns (or related plants) include coarse-textured holly fern
autumn fern
and ebony spleenwort.

Christmas fern and

Dixie wood fern are still green but looking rough.

Finally, I came across this Kentucky coffee tree along the Palace Green. I've been looking around for one in CW for about a year, but it was the winter silhouette that finally helped me find it. Unfortunately, several sheep were killed last year when some tourists fed them branches from one of these trees. The offending tree was cut down, but this one is still there.

You can see the rest of my January week 4 photos here.