frost

What’s Missing From This Picture?

– Posted in: What's up/blooming

What's missing from this picture are the autumn crocuses. They should be blooming now. No, I don't mean colchicums--they're done. (And they're not crocuses!!) I mean bona-fide crocuses that bloom in the fall. Crocus speciosus, to be precise. I planted more than one hundred of them four years ago, and for the last three years [...]

In Appreciation of Frost

– Posted in: Meditations

We live in a valley, and while we are still waiting for the sun to shine on our house, we see it illuminating the hillside behind us, especially as the sun's angle changes as we approach the winter solstice. The contrast between the sunny autumn foliage and the shadowy frost-coated lawn was striking, and I [...]

Hard Freeze, But No Frost: What Gives?

– Posted in: FAQ, Weather

Very early this morning, the temperature bottomed out at 18F, so my max-min thermometer tells me. And yet, when I looked out my window, there was not a speck of frost on the grass. If I hadn't consulted the thermometer, I would have thought it was a lovely spring day out there. (The grass has [...]