If winter is slumber and spring is birth, and summer is life, then autumn rounds out to be reflection. It’s a time of year when the leaves are down and the harvest is in and the perennials are gone. Mother Earth just closed up the drapes on another year and it’s time to reflect on what’s come before.–Mitchell Burgess
. . . We gardeners needn’t have a siege mentality toward frost. It’s not a villain, holding us hostage in some pitifully short growing season. Jack Frost is simply one more character in this dazzling, sometimes perplexing, and wonderfully rewarding practice we call gardening.–Philip Harnden, in A Gardener’s Guide to Frost
Autumn – the year’s last, loveliest smile.–William Cullen Bryant
In its own way, frost may be one of the most beautiful things to happen in your garden all year . . . Don’t miss it. Like all true beauty, it is fleeting. It will grace your garden for but a short while this morning. . . . For this moment, embrace frost as the beautiful gift that it is.–Philip Harnden, in A Gardener’s Guide to Frost
Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.–Albert Camus
Now, the digging and dividing of perennials, the general autumn cleanup and the planting of spring bulbs are all an act of faith. One carries on before the altar of delayed gratification, until the ground freezes and you can’t do any more other than refill the bird feeder and gaze through the window, waiting for the snow. . . . Meanwhile, it helps to think of yourself as a pear tree or a tulip. You will blossom spectacularly in the spring, but only after the required period of chilling.–Adrian Higgins
In the end, this may be the most important thing about frost: Frost slows us down. In spring, it tempers our eagerness. In fall, it brings closure and rest. In our gotta-go world–where every nanosecond seems to count–slowness can be a great gift. So rather than see Jack Frost as an adversary, you could choose to greet him as a friend.–Philip Harnden, in A Gardener’s Guide to Frost
Kathy,
Photos are great and I really enjoyed reading your page. I agree that frost is one of the most beautiful things happen in my garden! feels like it feeds my soul.
The roses are so beautiful. This frost post and your previous snow post happen to be the first winter-is-coming posts I have seen in the blogisphere. We are still frost-free, but that is the norm for us. We usually see our first about just after mid-November.
Kathy, my tummy got cold just looking at that last shot! So many pretty ones there. I’ve never seen a frosted hydrangea – just lovely. We should get some frost this evening if all goes according to plan – hopefully I’ll have a bright morning and be able to share my delightful silver edges. B.
I love a little frost on some fresh grown spinach and kale. It seems to make the leaves taste just a bit sweeter.
I agree, Mike!
Wonderful words and pictures. Thank you!
Oh I LOVE frosty photos – so beautiful. You make me nostalgic for my Maine yard where the frost and sunlight mixed in the woodland edge. I can almost hear your crunchy footsteps as you captured this. Thank you for sharing such a “reflective” moment.
What a nice job in putting together this post, and I love the photos! I should agree with the beauty and emotions but I’m still angry to have had my gardening year cut short. I wanted a few more weeks but don’t we always?
Your frost photos are beautiful! Thanks for sharing them. Although I often think the garden is dying at this time of year, it’s really just going to sleep.
The quote from Camus keeps circling in my head.
Great quotes, Kathy, and fabulous photos. We haven’t had as hard a frost yet… but we will! And soon, I’m guessing.
Amazing how festive and eye catching that edging of frost gives every plant…even the tiny elfin thyme. This reader (while sitting inside all warm and cozy) really appreciates you taking the time and making the extra effort to capture these lovely images.
Beautiful but that quote says it all…we had a frost the other day and I thought the flowers would end but they haven’t….but it was only 31 and the ground was too warm. I am sure we are due for more cold eventually. Right now Patricia is battering the garden.
Yes, we have wind and rain here, too. A lot of flowers will last with a light frost, especially perennials. But after 23F there’s not much hanging on.
Kathy, what a lovely photo of the frost-covered roses! And I love the quotes, especially the one about us needing a required period of chilling… Thanks for the book reference; I have ordered the Gardener’s Guide to Frost. To a cozy winter! -Beth
Beth, I think you will find Harnden’s book very informative and helpful in dealing with frost.
Living in Northern Utah, we’ve usually had frost by now, but not so this year. Part of me likes the extended “Indian-Summer” fall we’ve been having, but part of me is looking forward to the “closure” that frost seems to bring. Beautiful photos!
Thank you, Heather. I know what you mean about closure.
Although my little garden has mostly died back from the cold nights and wet days, I have one delightful foxglove that didn’t bloom until October. It was newly planted late in the summer and I didn’t expect a bloom this year. It is valiantly keeping its head up! Also one last little Rose has appeared.
Don’t you love surprises like that foxglove? But I wonder if it will bloom next year if it is a biennial? Some roses are very tough. My Flower Carpet roses along the road are still blooming.
Frost slows us down. In spring, it tempers our eagerness. In fall, it brings closure and rest”. What a great line – we are looking at a first snow fall in Minnesota this week. I have enjoyed this season of plants and will take my rest with gardening books and my planning notebook.
Yes, garden dreaming time is coming–right after the holidays!
Wonderful photos. Wonderful quotes. Thank you for the appreciation.
Kathryn, Tanner Hill Herb Farm
Your frost photo’s are stunningly beautiful ~ wonderful visual appeal. But I am struggling a bit to appreciate frost as it has killed my morning glory before I got a single bloom. Womp. Womp. Shed a tear for me.
I do shed a tear–been there, done that. Some varieties are quicker to bloom than others. Grandpa Otts seems to bloom earlier than Heavenly Blue, for example. We have also started them indoors, like maybe two weeks before the last frost, to give them a little head start. And I suspect they will bloom earlier when the summer is hotter.