I learned a new word yesterday….”Graupel”. It is a German word in heritage, meaning an icy little ball, not quite hail, but larger than sleet. Yesterday, it “grappled” in the Texas Hill Country.
Graupel is fairly uneventful. In fact, the entire time it was “grappling”, I was thinking to myself how strange the snowflakes looked, because ofcourse, they weren’t actually snowflakes. It waa graupel.
Now that we know the difference between graupel and snow, I am happy to report that neither the graupel nor the snowflakes hurt my gardens. Nothing froze. All the early spring bulbs handled the graupel with grace and beauty.
Texas weather is strange. One day it is 70 degrees, the next day it is grappling. Gardeners must take the weird weather changes in stride…..but not me. I don’t take things in stride when it comes to my beautiful gardens. I have been known to sulk and throw tantrums over an immanent early or late freeze. I had spent the week preparing for the upcoming freeze…..The graupel was a nice little surprise. Not only did my flowers bulbs enjoy the rare phenomenon, but the deep freeze that had been predicted simply didn’t happen.
Just a little graupel and a few snowflakes.
Happy Gardening, my friends!