winter interest

During the winter it's easy to forget what the garden looked like in the Spring and Summer. Looking at the summer picture makes me ask the question, "And why do we live in the North?"

I do enjoy the shapes, sticks, shadows and other odd visual effects that are a product of winter conditions.  I call it "winter interest."  Some plants are in my garden just because their red bark or oddly shaped or twisted, branches contribute to the snowscapes and provide for some visual stimulation while sipping a cup of coffee at the kitchen table.  

Birds also provide some mild entertainment when the garage is too cold to comfortably tinker on mechanical projects and reading becomes tiresome.  This year we have robins wintering over in our neighborhood. Several times we've seen them in our yard by the dozens, devouring the bright red and blue berries that grow on trees and bushes in our yard.    

One robin in particular can be seen daily. You can see him in the second picture if you click on it to make it bigger.  He has gorged himself on the red berries which grew in abundance on our ornamental cherry trees this summer.  He's down to the last few berries in hard to reach tips of branches.  He can also be seen digging down through the snow to get at the berries knocked to the ground by greedy birds a few months back when food was more plentiful.  He is so industrious I am half expecting him to start constructing an igloo.  But why?  He has a little pocket of protection in the arborvitae behind the garden bench.

Still, I know he has a long cold winter ahead of him and a foot of snow now covers many of his food sources.  I'm beginning to think in terms of a heated bird bath and trips to the "Wild Birds Unlimited" to get berries for him.  No, surely I wouldn't do that, would I?  No, he needs to fly south for the winter.  That's what robins are supposed to do, so that when they come back, I can get excited to see the first robin of the spring.