Tahoe check: hints of spring

We spent the weekend in Tahoe, getting in some late skiing and checking on my darlings.

The distribution of snow was interesting.  There were 2-3 feet of hard, packed, icy stuff in the backyard but adjacent bare spots under the trees.  Daffodils were starting to sprout in the bare spots.

A two-year-old incense cedar, two-year-old jeffrey pine, and one-year-old giant sequoia were still buried, and may not be heard from for some time.

All the trees that I found were doubled over, their stems bent almost 180 degrees, with only the tip of their stakes sticking up through the snow.  I took a hose and ran water around them until I could free the stems, then straightened them out as much as possible, propping them up with sticks wedged against the remaining snow.  My larger giant sequoia, purchase from a nursery last year, seems alive but has many lower branches broken off.  The western juniper--I suspect it isn't a true Sierra Juniper--looks like a champion, even if it is slightly bent.  Finally, my lone sierra juniper looks bad, but no worse that it did after last summer.  Almost like it's been in deep freeze.

Time will tell!  I'll take pictures on the next trip.