Are there winter flowers in Minnesota? The answer is sort of, but not really. I checked around my yard to see what I could find here in the frozen Tundra buried under all the snow? I will give you a quick look.
Basically, if it was living outside, it is now dead in Minnesota. With our extreme below zero days this winter, it is definitely the case. We have a couple huge, beautiful Snowball bushes out in front of our house. They are called Hydrangea, but here Snowball is more often the name used. These bushes have wonderful white flowers on them until fall. In the fall, they dry up, followed by a snow coating in the winter.
How about all of our Autumn Joy Sedum bushes? These have pretty rose colored flowers on them in the late fall, but they too dry up, and get blanketed with snow in the winter. Many people leave the dried flowers on their bushes as we do because it is better than nothing.
We have a few huge Neon Splash Spirea bushes out front. These too have dried up, and lost their vibrant purple color with the winter cold. By the way, Mom is not at all into gardening, so we had to look up the names of all our bushes on the landscaping plan that came with the house.
Finally, we have some bushes with pretty red berries. The Winter Berry bushes are the only color we can find in our yard in the winter. By now, the birds have eaten most of the berries.
I bet you are wondering what we do here in the Northland if we want fresh flowers in the winter? Why not make a dried flower bouquet from our Snowball bush flowers? I know. It’s weird, but it is what we do, where we live. Enjoy the winter!
One last very important thing! Remember to root for my Vikings on Sunday as we play the Eagles in the NFC Championship. The winner goes to the Super Bowl which is being held right here in Minneapolis this year! No host team has ever played in a Super Bowl game, but we want the Vikings to change that! SKOL Vikings!
you don’t have any dandilions or wild violets? usually you can find them if you put a rock or cardboard or a board on top of where they were (or close by), then lift the thing off and usually you will find them at least green leaves an quite often flowering. We really appreciate the tour of your yard – especially the hydrangeas – they are so versatile( just like us GBGVs) all year long. We have some that were my mom’s grandmother’s! Thanks again, your friend Chablis
Mom loves the Hydraneas the most of all our shrubs and plants.
Such terrific photos, go Vikings!!!
Team Purple just has to prevail!
that is a good idea… the mama wants tulips for my crib, but no store has some fur her… maybe I can find some dried ones?
The only place to get fresh flowers here would be the store. Dried tulips don’t turn out so well.
Hari OM
I adore hydrangeas at all times of the year; and I have two vases of the dried version inside right now! I cut them when they still have a little colour and dry them deliberately. Love your hat, Emma. Hugs and wags, YAM-aunty xxx
One just has to be careful with the dried Hydrangeas as they will fall apart if you bump into them.
I’ve always loved snowball bushes, and I love your dried arrangement.
We like them too, and the white is our favorite.
Our winter garden looks about the same as yours. In addition to birds eating the berries, we have three deer that eat them too. Luckily that tree is by a window that the dogs rarely look out, so the deer can eat in peace.
I hope the Vikings win the Super Bowl this year!
Never seen a deer in our neighborhood, but Gramma has deer. We are sure hoping the Vikes win Sunday!
We have all those same bushes here! That’s a fun idea to bring some in the house – why not? Your Mom was lucky to get the landscaping plan with the house. Our sellers said they’d send us something but they never did, so I had to figure out a lot of stuff on my own.
Go Vikings!!!
The people who bought the house were first time home buyers, and it was brand new, so they saved everything which was nice. They planned to stay for years and were transferred, meaning we got all the bells and whistles they put into it.
That’s about how our plants look, too! I think the dried up, dead hydrangeas are pretty in their own way, too! Rye keeps thinking they should be pounced on, though!
Sometimes the big dried flowers break off and blow across the snow. My sisters like to chase them.
Our Mama is a big fan of dried snowball flowers, and we love the winter berries too!
Go Vikings!!
xoxo,
Jakey, Arty & Rosy
The winter berries are so pretty, wish they didn’t get eaten, but that is what they are there for! Tonight is the night!
I love your post – because it is the same here. If I look hard, I can probably find a red berry but that’s about it. I love your bouquet of dried snowball flowers! Somehow, I never quite realized that you were in MN. It is so cold up there! I love your attitude about it.
It is often well below zero, but we are prepared and we embrace it. For us winter is so much nicer than summer. None of us, including Mom like the heat.
love how you found flowers in the snow and since my Lions are long gone, I will pull for the Vikings!!! Good luck to you!
Thank you, the snow does even add beauty to the dead stuff. Go Vikings tonight.
That picture is unbelievable. Such expression. Go Vikings.
Thank you. I am pretty expressive when I give it a shot. SKOL!
I love hydrangeas but have never seen them with white flowers! Ours are pink, blue and purple. I can imagine your look just like snowballs.
The color has to do with the acidity of the dirt they are planted in. We can add something to the soil to make ours turn color, but Mom likes the white ones.
Some pretty winter flower shots
Cheering for you guys tonight. I think the Vikes could use a few additional mascots if they make it to the big game!
What a disaster that game was. Such a rotten way to end the season after the huge final play the week before. We are MN, destined to never have a truly great team in any sport I guess!
We’re only getting a fraction of the winter weather you are accustomed to getting and there are no flowers to be seen! In fact, most of the palmetto bushes are dead due to the extremes cold so neighbors have been out all weekend chopping the lifeless branches off – getting them ready for trash day.
Our plants and trees are all used to being frozen, but in your area, it is not the case. Hope most survive.
Gosh Emma, I’m really sorry about your Vikings. I had hopes of them going too!
Last week was so amazing and last night was a nightmare. On to greener pastures like my own sport of nose work. Hope I can do better with that than the Vikes did in football last night!