You may have heard about the Texas Deep Freeze a few weeks ago. We had snow and sub-freezing weather for days, a very unusual occurrence for us in Southeast Texas.
The momentary beauty of the snowy landscape challenged our “hardy in Zone 8” plants, as you’ll see below.
Fall of 2020 
Also fall of 2020 
Snow on the still-green landscape, February 2020 
Snow-laden plants behind the pool 
All brown now except the pots that went into the garage and greenhouse
But winter leads to spring each year like the pages of a book turning to a new chapter, and the verdant green landscape we cherish will return. But not without some work on our part.
The pruning has already begun. I loaded up a podcast and set out last weekend to whack the golden dewdrops, those lovely green plants you see draping over the back of the pool, down to about knee-high. That’s when I found this little jewel, a sleeping tree frog.
He was so still, but I didn’t realize he was sleeping at first 
I got very close, and he didn’t move 
From above; he sure is close to that spike on the branch!
It was easy to photograph the frog when he was sleeping, but I really needed him to move so I could prune the plant. I bent the branch to make a bridge to the nearby camelia bush, which remained to true to its evergreen form in the freeze. Startled, the frog blinked at me, looked for an escape, and leapt.
He stuck the dismount… 
…and found a nice hiding place
Encountering that frog while I was pruning was surprisingly inspiring, a testimonial to spring renewal. But how did he survive the freeze? Well, apparently, frogs actually can and do freeze, including their hearts, and then thaw and get right back to living their everyday froggy life when it warms up. Who knew??? That’s a terrific spring / rebirth story. You can read more from the Discover Place “Ask a Naturalist” site here.
Renewal pruning, frozen and thawing frogs… it’s not easy being green. But it’s worth it. Kermit knows.
© 2021, Glover Gardens
The snow around the pool area looks so cool. Hopefully warmer days are ahead though 🙂
It’s a different look than usual, for sure! The warm weather is definitely upon us, and the plants that didn’t freeze to death are joyfully sending tender green shoots in response to the spring sun. Are you seeing any signs of spring? Do you have daffodils?
Yeah daffodils usually start springing up so the flower I probably most associate with spring arriving 🙂