After the Frost

A post with more pictures than words.

Frost hit the Big Creek Valley last week after some false alarms--evenings when we hurried out in the last light to throw old furniture quilts, tablecloths and towels over green beans in the garden and house plants on the porch. Mornings of heavy dew, but no frost, saw us tweeking wet covers off to dry in the sunshine.

I carried most of the begonias and geraniums down to the basement where they will spend the winter months on an old table beneath a flourescent light fixture.

The frost did come on a night of full moon light and morning brought the unwelcome scene of blackened and drooping sunflowers, zinnias and cosmos--the flowers which revived in the balmy September days to bless us with their brilliant colors.

Brocolli plants, from seed sown directly in the garden, are thriving in the cooler weather.

Double-Red Knock-Out roses continue to produce bloom until really harsh temperatures prevail.

A few blooms of spicey 'pinks.'

Stalks of rampaging mint have produced fuzzy flower heads.

Coneflower looking a bit shriveled by the cold night.

All that remains of the exuberant row of zinnias.

J. has hauled old bedding from Pebbles' yard to spread on a veg bed--the kittens are intrigued.

A last sighting of the garden spider.

Her egg sack blends with the frost-blasted stalks of zinnias.

Frosted zinnias.

I've collected enough zinnia seed to sow a whole garden come another spring: zinnias, anyone?

The Michaelmas daisies are still lovely.

Sunflower heads bend toward the ground, heavy with seed.

Here and there a frazzled bloom.

Each day the wind brings down more leaves.

Beauty still in these sere, stripped-down shapes.

A feast for the lingering goldfinches.

There are several varieties of maples in the dooryard.  Some have lost most of their brilliant leaves, others are still in the process of turning.

Teasel contemplates the leaves which swirl around her in the cat yard.