The Joys? of Winter......

The above picture shows what happens when you have  rain falling and freezing on contact. The poor Hydrangea  had all its old flowers still on it and when they became encased in ice it broke the center 2 branches of the tree. The weight of the ice split them in half . I have never had this happen ...the tree has been through 6 winters with more snow and ice. But from what I have read the tree as it gets taller and fuller it can get top heavy.  
It was top heavy in the summer and had started to lean, so I cut back the branches and then staked it. If I hadn't done that trimming in the summer  it probably would have broken off near the base from the ice load. So I should consider myself lucky. But now I just hope it survives. 
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It was a gift from my father in law in memory of Brandon ,as we couldn't plant a tree near Brandon's grave in our cemetery. The tree was delivered to me in September of 2019 and a friend helped me plant it.   The penguin Blanca is right next to the tree and under her are my Mother in Law, Rosalie's ashes.  She wanted to be buried under the old pear tree, but I  and my sister in law decided it was better to put her next to Brandon's  tree and I had planted 3  young pear trees right behind Brandon's tree. 
So Rosalie was near Brandon and the pear trees, which fulfilled her wishes.