Wonderful article Chris! We have lived thru 5 years of Manitoban winters in Canada before we moved to California. And our Canadian winters are really tough and about 6 months long, but it is something we just have to bear with, and I remember people not being in the mood for the Christmas holidays when they do not see the snow on the ground.
And it does challenge us to be "creative" to have a garden, mostly indoors of course. Naturally we do not love having the -40 C range..
But then again, no spring without winter
And here in California, now that we are here, and for this year, winter has been drier than usual, so the Sierra Nevadas does not have much natural snow..and we all need that here, that is where our water comes from...I would hate to have again drought conditions in summer or the wild fires that hover are equally disastrous. The milder winter however makes for early spring awakenings in the gardens right now...daffodils are so happily awake! And if there is not much snow on the mountains...where will our wonderful water falls come from in display by summertime..
Here is a summer and snow view of Yosemite falls, summertime 2005, wintertime 2007 equally beautiful to see and behold!
