We had over 8 inches of snow here on Harkers Island over the weekend. It was beautiful, but a wet and heavy snow. I lost a branch of my young southern magnolia, and it split a number of wax myrtles. When pruning off broken branches, remember to leave the collar region of the branch, near the main trunk, intact. If you cut it flush, damaging the collar region, you will not get proper healing. Do not paint the cut area of any branch.
The first photo is of a side shoot of broccoli peeking through the snow. I will harvest the last of these this coming weekend, and pull out the plants for good to make room for soon to come spring plants.
Although all the hives had nice caps of snow, Grace's hive had a big, snow covered branch laying on top of the hive. We left it alone, and it lifted off on its own as the snow melted. We improvised a feeder for Grace's hive, as there were a number of dead bees on the bottom board and front porch. We had not fed this hive to date, as we did not have another feeder, and it was the strongest, with the most reserves. I hope Grace and her girls make it through. I checked tree branches in the park's woods over the weekend, and the maples are just barely starting to swell. I had really hoped they would bloom by this weekend, but it does not look like that will happen. The bees need to hold on a bit longer.
Look at how the heavy snow weighted down the fronds of my Sable Palmetto palm! It did show off the young, fresh growth standing up straight in the center. Just for fun, you also see a snow covered apple tree and red maple tree.
The snow is gone now and we are back to just soggy mud. It was great while it lasted though.
