I love patterns that can be found in nature. This ice storm changed the structure of the dormant and dead into dazzling displays of light. As the sun got higher in the sky the fields sparkled as if bejeweled for a lavish celebration. The storm is so destructive. Trees groaned under the weight and the architectural stalks of the prairie grass bent low to the ground and some were even crushed. As destructive as an ice storm is, it is absolutely breathtaking in beauty and splendor. It looks otherworldly.
I grew up in apple country, and the fall and early spring orchard sprinklers would sometimes turn the trees into spectacles of ice or the pastures into fields of glistening crystals. It is no wonder that their are so many odes and poems written about the hoar frost and the ice crystals of jack frost.
Beautiful. Would it be wrong to design a winter garden that the hoary frost could frolic in? Or to leave misting sprinklers on to accentuate the natural structures and baroque patterns of nature. Add an overhang long enough for the ice to melt and freeze into glistening sickles.
I'll have to remember and design me a winter garden. One that builds on the natural structure and shapes of plants and the winter pods and berries. One that invites that dreaded but beautiful ice.
