Snow Falls Over Skylands
Skylands, my well-loved home in Maine, is under a blanket of snow.
The recent snowstorm, which covered my Bedford, New York farm with about six to seven inches of snow also hit Seal Harbor, Maine - it was the most significant snow we've had in the region this season. As you know, I don't get to visit my home in Maine as much as I would like during the winter months. Fortunately, Cheryl DuLong, who works at Skylands, is a wonderful photographer, and always keeps me updated by sending images of the property whenever she can. The weather there was a bit colder than here - in the high 20s, so the snow was light and fluffy and beautiful.
Enjoy these photos.
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- As soon as Cheryl arrived at Skylands, she went out to start taking photos. The snow was so pretty and still untouched.
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- Here is a clump of young spruce covered in white. Up in Maine, the snow was lighter and more powdery. The light fluffy snow forms when all layers of the atmosphere are below freezing. Because the air is cold, all the way down to the surface, snowflakes don’t melt, and that allows the individual flakes to stay light and fluffy.
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- The snow stuck to many surfaces including this ledge going from the back driveway to the front of Skylands.
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- Can you see the fir trees covered in snow? A little snow cover is actually good for the gardens, trees and plants. Snow cover helps keep the soil from freezing deeper in the ground preventing root damage. For small evergreen and non-deciduous shrubs such as rhododendrons, snow also helps to lessen the impact of desiccation or loss of water in the plants.
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- Cheryl captured this photo of the snow stuck to the trunks of the trees. Sometimes one can tell the direction of the wind by looking at how the snow accumulates on the bark of trees.
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- Here is a faux bois bench up at the lost pools, which are located just above the front circle.
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- This is the smaller of two lost pools at Skylands. It has no water now, of course, but during summer when my grandchildren were much smaller, they enjoyed wading and playing here and searching for frogs.
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- This is the larger of the two Jens Jensen–designed lost pools with its natural stone formation – now all covered with snow.
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- This is a view looking down from pools into the woodland.
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- Along one of the footpaths, this little light looked almost like a snow covered mushroom.
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- This image looks down toward the driveway of Skylands. Everything was covered in white, but weather forecasts expected temperatures to rise again into the high 30s, so this winter wonderland was not expected to last long.
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- This young spruce tree’s branches were completely disguised by the snow. Thankfully, the snow was light, so there was no damage to any trees or shrubs. When possible, the crew will also sweep some of the snow off the nearby trees and shrubs, especially if they are weighed down.
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- This photo shows the sunlight shining onto the snow covered rocks and trees. In the upper left corner is a gray box protecting one of the many garden urns at Skylands.
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- Here’s a mature spruce with all its snow covered branches. Spruce trees are pyramidal in shape with needles that are sharply pointed and square. I have many spruce trees as well as fir trees at Skylands.
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- Buried beneath this light layer of snow are the new buds of the wild blueberries growing at the edge of the driveway. These wild berries are so sweet – we harvest many during the summer.
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- Outside the front of my home is a circle garden planted with hay-scented ferns, purple smoke bushes, and spruce trees, Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’. When I found these trees, I got many to plant here in Maine.
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- Here is the back door and porch surrounded by spruce trees, maple trees, and hemlocks.
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- One of our favorite photos is the one taken of this dining room double pane window which faces south. One can see the beautiful and clear reflection of Seal Harbor and Sutton Island in the glass.
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- This is my favorite spruce tree, which can also be seen outside the dining room window. It is very tall and very old. Unfortunately, it may be nearing the end of its life – it loses a few branches every year.
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- Here is a view looking through the branches of the same tree out to the bright blue ocean beyond. Skylands is paradisiacal in any season – I can’t wait to return. Cheryl took all these photos just in time. Like us here in New York, Maine is also expecting another storm tomorrow, with perhaps more rain than snow.
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