The Great Willamette Valley Ice Storm of '16 - 9 - Garden Plants - 12 original photos
How did my garden plants come through the big ice storm? Come into my post and find out! There's quite a variety to see!
Here's the first post on the Great Willamette Valley Ice Storm of 2016. I've already shown the effect of the ice on my Sequoia and Larch Trees; Blue Spruce and Western Redcedar Trees; Noble Fir, Grand Fir, and Eastern White Pine Trees; two sets of Douglas-Firs, Ponderosa Pines, and Hazel, Walnut, Birch, Holly, and Elm Trees. I'll be posting two more ice storm photosets, with fruit trees and homestead miscellany. And then we'll have an ice storm party!
Portuguese Kale
My Portuguese Kale took the ice like a champ! The leaves are huge, with a center stem that is tender and mild. The leaves are more like a collard, and they are hydrophobic. So the rain didn't stick to the leaves and the ice froze in chunks rather than encasing each leaf.
![tsuDSC03803-1WEBc0b2e.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/17/tsuDSC03803-1WEBc0b2e.jpg)
Another name for this plant is Tronchuda Beira. Maybe some of you from Portugal know how to use it for making Caldo Verde! Portuguese Kale is incredibly robust and productive. These plants are two years old. I planted them in the spring of 2015, harvested a lot all year long. Then they went to seed in the summer of 2016, but put on more robust growth for fall and winter harvests. I'll have a separate post about this great plant sometime soon.
Spearmint
Most years, spearmint doesn't make it through the winter. It gets frozen back. But when the ice storm hit, the spearmint was still around. The ice was thick on the little plants! And by the time the ice had stuck around for four days, the leaves had started to yellow. But once the ice left, the spearmint was fine -- except now it was vulnerable to our cold weather - and most of the leaves have pretty much died back.
![tsuDSC04030-1WEB376ee.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/17/tsuDSC04030-1WEB376ee.jpg)
![tsuDSC03773-1WEB52d30.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/17/tsuDSC03773-1WEB52d30.jpg)
Weeds - Dandelion, Chickweed, Field Mustard
Dandelions are such enthusiastic plants! They will grow and bloom anytime there is enough soil moisture and a couple days of temperatures above freezing. This dandelion flower was fully open and couldn't get shut against the weather before freezing.
![tsuDSC03775-1WEB5b4dc.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/17/tsuDSC03775-1WEB5b4dc.jpg)
You can see why I eat a lot of Chickweed (Stellaria media) and Wild Field Mustard (Brassica rapa) in the winter. These plants are robust! They both were coated with ice, but emerged unbothered - even though Chickweed has weak stems that cause it to sprawl all over, and the plant is so tender it's easy to pull by the handful for salad greens.
![tsuDSC03792-1WEB492fa.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/17/tsuDSC03792-1WEB492fa.jpg)
Asparagus
I didn't have my asparagus patch cleaned up before the ice storm hit. So the delicate, dry, dead fronds of asparagus were super-loaded with ice. Amazingly, the fronds didn't fall over with all that weight. Instead, the ice froze everything solidly in place. Once it melted though, so did the asparagus fronds! That made it a lot easier to clean up my asparagus patch, though!
![tsuDSC03874-1WEB958f3.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/17/tsuDSC03874-1WEB958f3.jpg)
![tsuDSC03782-1WEB2356f.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/17/tsuDSC03782-1WEB2356f.jpg)
I really liked how the little asparagus berries wee so bright against the dead asparagus fronds and the ice. They were like little Christmas ornaments.
![tsuDSC03779-1-1WEB6a3f8.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/17/tsuDSC03779-1-1WEB6a3f8.jpg)
![tsuDSC03778-1WEBb281e.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/17/tsuDSC03778-1WEBb281e.jpg)
Rosehips
Early winter was so warm here that my rosehips hadn't yet colored up to a bright red, or sweetened up for making tea or snacks. This ice did the trick, though! These large fruits are from an incredibly vigorous climbing rose, White Dawn. It's white petals are great to eat, too! I'll show you sometime.
![tsuDSC03677-1WEBb2a8e.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/17/tsuDSC03677-1WEBb2a8e.jpg)
![tsuDSC03679-1WEB8adbb.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/17/tsuDSC03679-1WEB8adbb.jpg)
Yucca
Who would guess that I would be showing how a growing flower stalk of a Yucca plant was affected by ice in December! This is so backwards -- they are supposed to bloom in the summer. But we had a very dry year in 2016 - at least until the fall rains started. This plant didn't even try to flower in our drought, but tried to flower and set seed in the fall -- a race against inevitable defeat, I think. The flowers were just beginning to open up. I would have been able to eat them, then! Oh, well, maybe in 2017. But the yucca is all off-schedule now, so who knows?
![tsuDSC04012-1WEB9f9a2.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.steemimg.com/images/2017/02/17/tsuDSC04012-1WEB9f9a2.jpg)
What About You?
Do you have any garden plants that are usable through the winter? Is winter close to being over where you are? Do you ever have ice storms in the spring? I would like to know!
Other posts in this Ice Storm Series:
- The Great Willamette Valley Ice Storm of 2016
- Sequoia and Larch Trees
- Blue Spruce and Western Redcedar Trees
- Noble Fir, Grand Fir, and Eastern White Pine Trees
- Douglas-Firs 1
- Douglas Firs 2
- Ponderosa Pines
- Hazel, Walnut, Birch, Holly, and Elm Trees
I hope you are enjoying these ice storm photosets. There's only two more left - fruit trees, garden plants, and homestead miscellany. Don't miss them! Because then we have an ice storm party! :D
![logosbc87c.md.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://storage.googleapis.com/steemimgimgs/2016/10/27/logosbc87c.md.jpg)
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Hmm, something different
I like them.
Thanks! I hope you don't get an ice storm with all your great flowers!
We only gets Hail stone
Ooh, hail can be even more damaging for flowers. Here's to good weather and slow, steady rain instead of hailstorms!
Damaged to Cars panels, all dented
Hail can damage so much in such a short amount of time. : (
These are great photos! I love how everything is totally encapsulated in ice. sooo pretty! Last year I had a 1st year blueberry bush that I kept potted because I wanted to bring it inside in case of a frost (yeah, sometimes it gets cold enough in Florida for frost!). To everyone's surprise my blueberries fruited that year! It was wonderful! I wish I still had it. :(
Sorry you don't have your blueberry bush any more. We can sure get attached to plants - especially ones with tasty fruit, but houseplants, too. The ice worked well to protect the plants from the cold that followed the storm. I know the spearmint would have died otherwise. It usually doesn't make it in those temperatures.
It's pretty amazing actually that any of them survived. I liken it to hyper-hibernation. LOL In the past I was never vigilant with my garden and killed everything. Up until last year I had my annual tomato plant killing event - never on purpose of course but I could never keep them alive long enough to fruit. Last year I said F-it and just took a slice of a really delicious locally grown beefsteak tomato and threw it in the ground. Boy did that thing sprout! I guess I've just loved my plants to death. LOL
I'm very sad about my blueberry bush. I still wonder if it's alive.
Way to outwit those tomato seeds!
I enjoy your ice series. Beautiful photos. And very hardy plants. Seems they would freeze and die, but nope, most just keep on tickin' like a good watch. Thanks for sharing.
I am amazed at how some plants get through the winter unfazed here. I think a big difference is that it's so humid here. In a drier climate, freezing temperatures can really dry out a plant. That ice was helpful. The spearmint usually doesn't make it through the winter.
That's too bad about the spearmint, harder to make tea without.
Hello, what part of the Willamette valley? I live in Canby. Great pics!
Thanks! I'm in the Eugene area. Canby has some great farms and orchards! It's been quite a winter in the Willamette Valley, eh?
Yeah it has been fun, I don't mind the snow and ice if it is a few times or less per year. I love Canby, well the whole Willamette valley!
Cheers @haphazard
It's so beautiful here. I am so glad the politicians in the 1970s put in the state land use zoning. Without that, the Willamette Valley would be like Calfornia or Seattle.
Agreed!
Very beautiful nature post.thanks for sharing.upvote
Glad you enjoyed the ice on my garden plants. It was pretty while it lasted!
Really nice my friend..
woow..nice..
Thanks!
Seeing this portuguese kale made me so proud!! Caldo verde is a great portuguese soup, with a good chorizo....yum yum!! I cooked one about 1 or2 months ago. It's very traditional in Christmas night :)
Lovely photos, I never saw anything similar! It's amazing how the ice keeps the flowers frozen!!
I thought of you when I put that photo in. Those were the first plants of Portuguese Kale that I've ever grown, but I was really impressed with it. I'll write a post sometime. I am a big fan of them now!
That ice really keeps the plants protected from the cold weather after the storm. It really saved my spearmint!
Looking forward! :)
Beautiful photos!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the ice. I was surprised at the spearmint getting through that.