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DECEMBER 2015 HOMES PLUS 3 I'm a person who needs to live in an area which experiences all four seasons, but of all the seasons, winter has always been the hardest to enjoy. It's not just the fact that I hate to shovel, but the winter landscape can be so lifeless. At least I thought so until a trip to Northern Wisconsin last winter. When we left Watertown everything was brown. We still hadn't received any snow- fall for the season. The trees were bare, the grass was brown and nothing in the land- scape stood out from anything else. As we drove north we started to begin to see a little white start to appear in places. There was a little pile of snow here and there, but things still looked pretty drab. I made the comment to my wife that I would hate to live in an area that looked like this the whole winter. Here I was wishing for snow. We were around Stevens Point when things started to get a little whiter. A recent snowstorm had gone through the area and at least the ground was white. Things looked much brighter and both of us could feel our moods begin to change. As we continued north, we encountered more snow. The landscape was just glisten- ing. It was like I had never seen snow before. Everything was white, from the fields to the trees. Large evergreen trees were covered with snow, giving them a lay- ered look. It was a wet snow and was cling- ing to the branches. Red twig dogwoods popped out of the landscape with their bright red branches, and tall native grasses stood covered in snow. We could see deer running through the fields, backlit from the snow. It was an incredible experience. My mood had just taken a quick 180, and the only difference was the addition of snow. My landscape at home seemed so dull. Little did I know that I was really simply missing snow. I have grasses, ever- greens, red twig dogwoods, and other bush- es loaded with bright red and purple berries in my landscape, but they just did- n't look the same as what we were seeing. I realized snow is the most important ingre- dient in the winter landscape. It provides contrast, which creates interest, which as MICHAEL TIMM Enhancing the enchanting winter landscape Ebert's Greenhouse Village A cabin on the grounds of Ebert's Greenhouse Village, Ixonia, is surrounded by the scenic beauty that can be found throughout the state. See NATURE/Page 4

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