The Official Newspaper for Foster County

Dakota Gardener: Birch-cicles and maple syrup

I saw a curious sight on my drive to work the other day.

A lone icicle was hanging from a branch on a maple tree. I smiled and chuckled briefly when I saw that large, solitary crystal of frozen water.

Conditions have to be just right to produce an icicle on a tree. Sap must leak out of a wound in the branch, but the air temperature has to be cold enough to freeze that sap before it drips to the...