Some years winter seems never-ending in Wisconsin. I am not a winter lover, so I need to look for the positives :>) Your witch hazel makes me think I should buy one for interest. Red dogwood and red male cardinals make the landscape warm up. Hoar frost mornings are magical to see.

Hi gchrismer, I agree with the never-ending winters in Wisconsin. They seem especially long when you're seeing pictures from people in other parts of the country that are already enjoying their gardens and ours are still under 2 feet of snow! My contorted hazelnut is right out our front window and I do enjoy viewing it every day. Unfortunately as the snow gets deeper the rabbits nibble higher and higher up the branches. I used to put a wire cage around it in winter, but now it's really too big to do that. So I just hope the rabbits aren't too hungry.

Bright red cardinals are so easy to spot and pretty against the white snow. They're my favorite winter birds too. Do you feed them?

Sorry, answering only about 7 months later it was a busy summer, what else can I say
I do feed birds, all year round but a bit more selectively esp in summer, trying to keep starlings away! I feed a lot of safflower seed. Cardinals love it, starlings, squirrels, sparrows reject it and eventually just leave and go eat somewhere else. Mourning doves and grosbeaks like it also. Some winter days I can look outside and see up to seven pair of cardinals - against snow and spruces they are beacons of brightness, just love them. This summer got to see several young ones at feeders.