City of ice and snow

Our temporary home (in Portland)

After the deluge of rain that hit Portland in December, there was a period of sunny days and brisk, frigid winds. The clouds returned Saturday night and we awakened to a beautiful blanket of snow on Sunday morning. The Portland and Vancouver area sits in the Willamette Valley, which is a bit insulated from the rougher weather that surrounds us. Snow events are infrequent (the last significant one was almost 2 years ago) and it pretty much the same scenario as happens in Alabama - schools close, grocery isles are invaded and cars spin and slide.

Last night, freezing rain replaced the snow. This morning there has been little traffic on our street, so far no garbage and recycle pick-up, but the sun is peaking out from behind the clouds and the ice is melting. Michael banished me from the house while he mopped and vacuumed. I grabbed my camera and took a walk around the neighborhood.

Everything - plants, sidewalks and streets - is encased in snow and thin sheets of ice. I did not find it treacherous for walking. I enjoyed the loud crunch under my feet. An occasional crash from falling ice from the power lines and trees was probably the most hazardous aspect of the journey.

In other news, the appraisal on the house has been completed and it is possible that our closing date could happen in about 2 weeks. That is if the underwriters (a word I am beginning to despise) do not come up with any more requests. It should happen around the time that I will be returning to Alabama to wrap up everything there. We just hope that we can get in the house and have electricity and all that good stuff turned on. I shudder to think about Michael stuck in a house with no electricity...

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

Ten Tall Skinny Plants for Tight Spaces

A blog post I wrote for work and I'm sharing it here - It seems like every day we get questions about plants for narrow spaces. This might be a tight area between buildings, between a sidewalk and the house, or maybe along a garage wall or fence. Choosing an inappropriate plant for such a situation will surely bring troubles down the road. There are a number of selections for this situation and hybridizers continue to introduce new plants every year. Here are a few selections to help you make the best decision. Rose of Sharon 'Purple Pillar' or 'White Pillar' (Hibiscus syriacus) - This old-fashioned shrub is easy to grow and once it starts blooming in mid to late summer, the blooms continue to come until frost. A member of the hibiscus family, older varieties can attain very hefty sizes. However, newer introductions like 'Purple Pillar' (pictured) and 'White Pillar' (white flowers) provide a columnar effect. You can expect plants to grow 10' f...

New Additions

January is usually a quiet month for us but we've had a flurry of activity lately. Today, we are getting a new roof. That news is painful, but a few other projects bring more joy - New boulders! For a while now, I've wanted to place larger boulders out front along the street. While they are not huge, they are bigger than the former ones and hopefully will make a bigger statement. The most exciting event for me was a new gate and arbor. Our older one was getting rickety and the gate itself never closed properly. I've been collecting photos of gates for the past year on Pinterest and kept returning to this one - I showed this to our handyman, and I was totally amazed that he made it exactly like the photo. I told him it didn't have to be exact, but he not only did that, but he built the entire thing in one day. Happy birthday to me! An improvement over the past one. It was a bit sentimental seeing it go. We realized that it was built 10 years ago by the same man. Now, we...

I'm worried about the Cryptomeria

{{Read an update to this post here}} For the past month or so, I've noticed that our big Japanese Cedar ( Cryptomeria japonica ) has been turning brown. I know that it usually does this but I don't recall seeing it to this extent. The entire backside of the tree looks completely brown and the opposite side is slowly turning brown also. Is this normal??? I can see new growth sprouting out from some of the branches. I hope this is a good sign that nothing is wrong. If any tree experts can weigh in on this, I'd appreciate it! Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Dirt Therapy

Search This Blog