December 8 , 2000

     Snow-capped evergreens are quite a sight

When we look at the Minnesota winter landscape, it's probably the snow that contributes most to its beauty.  And a snow-covered evergreen is one of the most splendid sights of nature.

In the Twin Cities area, we expect to see snow-covered evergreens for 30 or more days a year; wind and thaws remove the snow from boughs for much of the remaining part of the winter.

Anyone who has paid close attention to the many snow-covered species and varieties of pines, firs, spruces, junipers and other evergreens is usually favorably impressed.  They are natural, beautiful trees and shrubs to plant for our northern winters and they do many things for us.

Evergreens fill in for deciduous trees that drop their leaves and look bare and cold in the winter.  When maples, oaks and ashes lose their leaves in fall, evergreens give us bulk.  They protect from the cold winds, give us privacy and make us feel sheltered as they add their shades of green to the white winter scene.  Evergreens provide food and nesting and roosting places for many birds and other animals.