I’ve loved snow all my life, so any snowy day is a favorite day in my book. Ice, now that’s another story, but I have a vivid childhood memory that even makes that a bit enchanting.

A beautiful scene from storms gone by!

A snowy Colorado day a few years ago!

When I was a kid growing up in Athens, Georgia, one Christmas Eve a winter storm blew through. Although it was probably a small storm, from my child-size perspective, on Christmas morning it looked like a whopper of a snow. I remember heading to the next-door neighbors house to see what Santa brought overnight.

This day though, the ice was heavy enough to cause two evergreen trees on the path to bow together and create an arch overhead, forming a mini tunnel. Ice cycles were hanging down from the crest of the arch, producing a most idyllic scene for a child’s Christmas morning. That magical image obviously left a strong impression on the child-size me.

To my eye, a snowy scene transforms the landscape into a lovely winter wonderland. That sounds like such a cliché, but a good storm is absolutely enchanting to me. It creates a completely different world to enjoy, both visually and experientially. The world is somehow pristine, and cleaner.

We enjoy beautiful birds at the feeders in winter snow!

When our kids were young, days off school were always special and fun. These days our dogs really have a blast in the snow. Some years we enjoy winter vacations to extra snowy destinations — Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, and Utah. The Christmas markets in Germany were enchanting a few years back, and the mountains of Switzerland were mesmerizing.

If you happen to not be a fan of snow but love your landscape, here’s a reason to reconsider. Snow is great for your garden. Here’s why:

1. Snow insulates the ground and soil, and acts like winters mulch. Without it, if temperatures fall lower, the soil freezes to deeper and deeper levels. Root damage to trees and shrubs may result. Snow also insulates plants and foliage.
2. When temperatures begin to rise, melting snow provides a beneficial slow watering to the lawn, trees, and shrubs. Significant snow melts actually refill our rivers and replenish our underground aquifers.
3. Know as stratification, snow provides the moisture and cool layering that some plant seeds need for germination.
4. Nitrogen attaches to snowflakes as they fall through the atmosphere and deposit on evergreen foliage and the ground. This nitrogen, and trace amounts of ammonia, provides gentle fertilization.
5. I’m not sure of the science behind this, but I have heard in Master Gardener circles that snow also releases electrolytes into the air that are beneficial to plants.

I’ve never lived anywhere where snowfall is a burden, or winters are severe and terribly long. If I did, I might not love it as I do. Thus far, when an imminent snowstorm is in the forecast, I couldn’t be happier.

That snow covered, icy Christmas morning memory may be one of the reasons I still love snow, and it probably wasn’t as dramatic as I remember it. But I’ll hold on to my child-like excitement. I still love it that much, although I’m usually not unhappy by the time the snirt (read- snow, combo dirt) is gone.

White on white is a lovely color scheme in winters’ snow!