Melted Snow reveals warm microclimate

This picture was taken on February 1, 2005, to demonstrate the effect of house temperature on the garden. On this particular date the temperature was approximately 0 degrees celcius / 32 farenheight. Therefore the snow was right on the verge of melting. The melt pattern illustrates the warm microclimate near the house, which is a few degrees warmer than the surrounding area. Thus, on a day like this, the snow has already melted in the warm microclimate.

If you are familiar with the garden you will note that the Japanese Timber Bamboo is not visible in the above photo. It was added in 2005 after this photo was taken. This specimen of Phyllostachys vivax was planted in 2004 into this little microclimate but it was about the size of a blade of grass at this stage. The large tree in this photo is a Black Locust which was removed later in the summer — the same black locust and apple are pictured just below from a different angle, in August 2004.