Friday, December 04, 2009

Touched by Frost

The last few days have been crisp, cold, and clear. Jack Frost has magically touched the lawn, garden, nearby rooves (or roofs?). Take a look at these epimedium leaves, outlined in frosty crystals (click any image for a slightly closer view):
Frosted epimedium leaves
I plan to leave the fairy house out for the Winter again. It survived the heavy snow last year. So here's hoping it will survive again.
Fairy house in frost
I love the little fairy Christmas tree with frost on it:
Frosted Christmas tree
The Gunnera is pretty much done for this year. I should flop the fallen leaves over the crown, to protect it for Winter. Next time I go out.
Gunnera in frostThese Japanese anemone leaves look pretty neat when "frosted":
Anemone leaves in frost
The new granite bench looks beautiful, but not very inviting:
Granite bench
And finally, there was some really neat frost patterns on the new soil today, they look like little icy rosettes:
Frost patterns
Frost rosettes
The landscape crew finished just in time. But the last few plants I decided I would plant in myself, and the soil surface has been frozen ever since. So finally today I got out there and finished the planting.

First step was to sink the peonies a bit deeper - you wonder what those guys were thinking, just dropping them on the soil, and pushing new soil around! Not very good for the tender buds forming for next Spring. Fortunately there was lots of soft soil underneath (not like the undiggable clay under that!), so it was easy to dig them in deeper. This is the "before" photo:
Peonies not well planted
On the other side, I was able to catch them in time, and ask them to replant deeper already:
Peonies in winter
I guess there's nothing like a few days of frost to kick a gardener in the butt, and then the clear weather to allow for planting the final potted plants and bulbs that she hadn't gotten to previously. I was really pleased with myself, that I kept going until all the plants I am aware of, and all my bulbs - tulips, daffs, and even the mini irises - were planted out. I can't wait to find out the result in the Spring. But finally the new garden is "done" for this year.
Garden in frost

5 comments:

Shady Gardener said...

What pretty, frosty photos! :-) We experienced this frost a few weeks ago (hence, my header photo). Thanks for heading out there with your camera. You were rewarded with some beautiful shots!

Phoenix C. said...

Those frosty soil pictures are amazing! And I love your new bench.

Garden Lily said...

Thanks Phoenix & Shady Gardener. I can't wait until Spring, but in the meantime I am enjoying even looking at the bench from the house. My husband walked up with me today, to take a look, and we even sat on the bench for a moment. Then retreated back to the warm house.

Laura Gardens in Desert said...

How amazing. The frost crystals on the soil is astounding. I think your bench selection is perfect. Thank you for the frost pics. I mostly just see frost in the fridge.

Garden Lily said...

Laura - Thanks. Yes, this was a different formation of frost than I've ever seen before. And we do get a fair amount of frost here, not just in our fridges. ;-)

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