we have snow!

It's only about three inches so far, but still coming down. A few pics from the backyard- the turtlehead stems

and hydrangea, against the neighbor's red fence.

I like the fan of monarda and echinacea stems behind the main tree in the rear perennial bed, but it's hard to make out from the distance I took this photo (off the deck)

My bench, under snow. Just last night I was sitting on this, across from a fire! while my brother-in-law and niece visited with us in our backyard.

Lastly, here's a picture of that tree I found a freshly-cleared hole in. Still think it was a woodpecker, but if it's in residence, it hasn't emerged in half a day, as the hole is covered in snow. If it stays that way for days on end, I suppose that tells me nothing's living there. Or an animal that's hibernating. (In the righthand trunk, between the suckers)

I did not do a lot to protect plants against the cold this time. I heaped a bit of extra leaves over the lemon balm, cranesbills, 'autumn joy' sedums, joe pye weed, rue plant, black-and-blue salvia, st. john's wort and lovage. Also the front edge of ground under the lilac, where some of the ajuga got exposed. Probably they don't really need it, but I'd hate it if they died and I could have prevented that. Especially the newer ones.

For the first time I did not cover up the camellia, even though it has promising fat buds. At some point it has to just be able to survive the weather anyway. The hellebores have a few faintly purple buds that just showed up this week, all buried in snow now!