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Prediction accurate

This morning we had frost as predicted. So how cold was it? Well when my OH left for work at 6.20 am it read -1 deg C on his car temperature gauge. He travelled South for twenty-five miles and after only 9 miles the temp read 2 deg C. At the end of his journey the temp had risen to 3 deg C. So it was a morning of frost on the cars where we live but not a widespread frost. Only parts of my back garden had a covering of frost as it is more sheltered especially with our hedge on two sides.

Frost on foliage I find particularly beautiful and two plants in my garden that show that off extremely well are the Heucheras and the Bergenia shown in the small photos, above left. Unfortunately I didn’t manage out with my camera until 10am and by then much of the frost was melting. However Physocarpus Diablo showed no signs of frost at all. Instead it caught my eye with its beautiful autumn foliage and all signs of its stunning chocolate brown leaves are gone now. I am guessing the Sulphur Heart ivy growing on the trellis side of my pergola behind it gives it some protection.

Frost on flowers can also look fantastic although I did find myself looking at my Polygala Chamebuxus flowers (shown in the second set of photos, right top) this morning with a little pang of concern. Although I do know they should be fine. This plant normally flowers in Spring but it is covered with buds now. I wonder how many will open before we get very hard frosts and if they will survive then.

Japanese Anemones have to appear again – apologies if you are getting bored with them but they are my favourites just now. I will be posting on propagating them soon but for the moment I wanted to share another couple of photos. I did notice a frillier set of petals on one bloom the last time I took photos but it only occurred to me this morning that this was a plant I bought last year about this time. It was reduced in cost as it was dried out in its pot and really looked quite dead. However I did spot the label ‘Anemone Whirlwind’ and I liked the look of its flower on the label. I went away thrilled with my purchase with only one thing on my mind – to make new plants from it. I’ll tell you how I did that in another post!

With frost in mind last night I worked in my Gunnera border – courtesy of my outside light! It was a very satisfying job indeed. My Gunnera is now tucked up in bed for the winter and I will post on how I did that very soon. Although there is lots to do in the garden at this time of year I enjoy it almost as much as May – my favourite gardening month of the year!

Finally, apologies to those who prefer to read about the birds and wildlife in my garden. At the moment there is a lot I would like to do with the plants in the next two weeks. Then they will just get on with it with little help from me!

The photos above were taken in my garden on October 18th 2007.

2 thoughts on “Prediction accurate

  1. Hi there, Kim

    Thank-you 😀 I should have been out earlier with my camera as the frost was melting. I loved the shot of ‘Diablo’. I am enjoying all the colours at the moment 😀

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