Photo Essay
Easter Snow Storm – 2007
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Before the storm began, the Silver Peso Mountain Laurel's blooms and the Hummingbird Salvia (S. greggii) were bright spots of color in the grove at Gone Native.
By 9 a.m. ice pellets began to fall, and the same scene had a new look.
In the foreground is Salvia grahamii (a form of S. microphylla), and in the background is S. greggii.
A closeup of Claret Cup Cactus reveals the size of the ice pellets.
A mourning dove with a nest in a large prickly pear did not move as the ice pellets fell. Ice pellets are visible on its back.
In the foreground is Fendler's Penstemon, and the trail leads past a bank of S. greggii.
As a heavy snow began to fall, the trail to the ponds became curtained with large snowflakes.
The large beavertail prickly pear where the dove nests is the entry gate to the pond area.
Teddy was hyper as the snow fell and raced about with his frisbee. Snow collected on his back when if he stopped moving.
The snow became even more dense, it was as if a lace curtain had been pulled across the world.
Mountain laurel heavily weighted with snow blocked the sidewalk. Beyond, a fruiting mulberry similarly weighted, blocked a trail.
The flagstone patio became a Christmas scene on Easter Eve.
A lotebush pruned to standard form gathered the snow. Its green berries, blue thorns and new green leaves caught every flake.
Kerrville phlox bloomed bravely where the snow was able to reach its mostly protected site.
S. greggii caught every flake, too.
To see the salvia and the mulberry in spring attire but coated with snow was striking.
The metal art roadrunner seemed to run from the driveway, as if to seek shelter.
The winterized north patio with only an empty pot, a table, and an agave in a pot is in front of the row of Afghan Pines with its understory of Winter Jasmine.
Thornless Prickly pear captured snow, too.
The Virgen Guadalupe in its rasquache pot made from an old tire received the blessings of the heavens.
The recently arrived hummingbirds kept feeding as it snowed.
Mountain laurel blooms became perfect settings for the snow crystals.
On Easter Sunday the snow began melting. The dove got of its nest to feed on the recently exposed bare ground among the remaining patches of snow.
A Texas Red Oak, freshly leaved out but with a few of last years auburn leaves retained snow on its branches well into the afternoon.
Out in the pasture, the Huisache daisies stood up tall and pround, as if the snow had never fallen.
Rabbit tobacco nestled among the greening grasses revealed is strange miniature cauliflower-shaped flowers.
Feather dalea, a native of gravelly soils in the Llano Estacado bioregion, sparkled as brightly as the snow resting in its branches.
Baby white aster, a common spring wildflower under the mesquite bushes, revealed the tiny droplets of melted snowwater on the tips of its ray flowers.
A Fendler's penstemon bud also held a droplet of melted snow.
The endemic Cory's ephedra's blossoms (the tiny beige balls) were of just the right size to complement the filagree stems of last year's grass seed stalks.
The rayflowers of the Spiny yellow aster curled back from the snow, but the buds seemed a brighter red than normal against the snow under the small perennial wildflower.
A green agave provided a perfect setting for the collected snow.
So did the blue agave!
A Burr Oak did not stop the leafing out process despite the 36 hours of freezing temperatures.
The blue needles of Arizona Cypress complemented the blue pads of the prickly pear. The red dots on the Cypress are its blooms, while the strange clump of green on the prickly pear are its true leaves.
Littleleaf sumac blooms opened as if the spring's warmth had not paused for the weekend.
A Cactus Wren was carefully to not step in the remaining patches of snow on a prickly pear. Behind the bird the new leaves of a Lacey Oak remain green, despite the past freezing temperatures.
The white asphodel has "escaped" the plantings of Gone Native and seeded itself in the pastures. Here, it has joined a S. greggi along one of the footpaths of the arboretum.
In the pond is an umbrella sedge, also known as papyrus reed. Note the falling clump of ice on the right side of the green leaf - a "leaf" of the plant is all of the whorl of green from a central location.
Some snow still remained on the Fortunata rose's bloom, but notice the pools of melted snowwater on its leaves.