Winnipeg woman creates ice garden in her own front yard in Crescentwood

While regular gardens are sleeping under the earth and snow, Pat Palanuk's is sparkling in the sun in Winnipeg's Crescentwood neighbourhood.

That's because the flowers and grass are all made of ice, crafted by Palanuk herself.

She told CBC's Lori Hoogstraten all about what it's like to 'garden' in a blizzard on Sunday's edition of The Weekend Morning Show.

What's it like today with the blizzard blowing by outside?

Oh, it's looking good. Everything is hanging in there.

Great. What have you got?

It's just like a real garden out there only sparklier. I've got flowers, lots of flowers, grasses, the moon and the stars and some clouds.

But, I think my three favourites are, I've got a big sun out there, although it's kind of falling apart in this warm weather but it was inspired by the sun, that's where it all started. I made it out of a sandwich lid from a tray and Ziplock baggies.

I've also got a water lily out there … I think that might be my favourite. There's a hollow ball in the middle that I made out of a balloon and it's got pointy ice leaves all around it. It looks so cool when the light is shining through it.

And a patch of mushrooms, everybody loves the mushrooms. I made those out of a bowl and a juice pitcher. But the warm weather has made it so smooth and clear, some of them look just like magnifying glasses.

It's just spectacular out there. Even when it's falling apart, it's just spectacular.

It is spectacular. You mentioned what you made them out of but how did you know how to do this?

Oh, how did I know? I just made it up. I got an ice form from ArtsJunktion one year and I thought, 'Oh, well that would look nice on there.' I started doing it with a fort with my son when he was young in the front yard and just, I added a piece of ice and before you know it I got this grand and glorious garden in my front yard.

What kind of response do you get from people? Do they come up and knock on your door and try to buy your sculptures or anything?

[laughs] They don't try to buy them, no. But, the response has been overwhelming … A lot of people stop and take pictures. People come to the door, they want to hear about it. I just get so many amazing comments from people talking about how beautiful it is so I like that part of it.

It's amazing. Now, technically, you're saying which are your favourites but which are the most challenging shapes or ideas? How do you make grasses?

I made it out of a animal balloon. I just fill them with water and hung them on the clothesline. They're great. You touch them, they're going to break for sure. They shrunk to about half the size with the warm weather recently.

Speaking of the warm weather, you mentioned that made the ice clearer, but did you have to do some repairs?

Oh, yeah. I had to do some repairs. The sun has basically lost all its rays so I've added hearts instead in anticipation of Valentine's Day. It's turning into a love garden [laughs]. Valentines for my sweeties.

That's very nice. Now, you've got a little bit of competition at The Forks. There's a little bit of ice sculpture going on over there. Have you been by?

I have been by, I went last weekend. I loved it. It was spectacular. The igloo, the slide, all those carvings. Like, it's great engineering, I just marvelled at that. And with the lights, oh my gosh it was so beautiful.

And you'd be looking with the eye of an expert. Were you able to talk with any of the ice carvers?

Well, sort of. I tracked down one of the artists there, I could tell by the jacket he was wearing. I showed him some of my pictures and he was really interested but there was a language gap so we just kind of nodded at each other in appreciation.

Because they ran into some of the problems that you did of course with the warm weather.

Right. The warm weather is good because you can get out there and do things with your hands a lot easier and it just makes the ice look so beautiful. Not only is it clear, it shrinks and get these patterns in it, and textures. It's like stained glass almost.

It sounds like your garden is like a real garden; it progresses, it changes, it grows, it waxes, it wanes.

Oh, yeah. It's a whole journey, it's a whole adventure. That's the best part about it. It isn't the one perfect state at all. It's the way it changes as the weather comes along and the ice just gets better and better. I mean, the shapes aren't there as much but the ice, close up it's just absolutely beautiful.

And then watching it fall down is a good laugh, too. We have bets on when certain things will fall down.

The interview was edited for clarity and length.