Two nights now of -6C which arrived all of a sudden but at least the freezing fog has gone and we have bright, even brilliant sunshine during the day. Our old house is not liking this, and it is back to bedsocks at night for the first time since February last year. I may have been a bit cavalier about the frost protection- we will see when the temperatures come back up a bit next week. But frost has its own beauty as Ali, the Mindful Gardener observed today. Rosa LD Braithwaite has taken quite a few years to decide that she likes me, and only this year has begun to resemble a rose bush more than just a twig. The very last rose wears the frost rather well, like a celebrity Chopard necklace.
I may end up rueing leaving Pelargonium sidoides outside- I do hope not, but I had forgotten that I had planted it in amongst two roses that I had submitted to intensive care in pots. If this is the end, it is looking very beautiful all the same.
My new Australian-inspired arrivals, still in their pots, Dianella caerulea ‘Cassa Blue’ and Callistemon sieberi ‘Widdicombe Gem’ are frozen solid, but foliage still looking good.
I have had this Tanacetum vulgare ‘Crispum’ since the first year we were here- and although it is not a looker in the flowering department, I love the crinkled leaves and the greenness of it- a really vivid emerald. Every time I think that I have lost it, it pops up somewhere else, so there is determination about this plant. With the frost, it is clearly impersonating a low-lying conifer.
The night is drawing in, as my mother used to say in August in Scotland, and this cold just has to be sat out- damage to be inspected later.
jardinecofriendly 
FREEZING FOG!?!? I don’t know what that is, but it can’t be good.
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beautiful frost rimed flowers and leaves, there is something really tactile about them rather than the soggy mush that constant rain brings about.
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Looks lovely – super photos. Happy New Year to you all! I’ll be phoning Andy > Message du 05/01/19 17:31 > De : “jardinecofriendly” > A : jane-hentges@orange.fr > Copie à : > Objet : [New post] Cold snap… > >WordPress.com
Alison Piasecka posted: ” Two nights now of -6C which arrived all of a sudden but at least the freezing fog has gone and we have bright, even brilliant sunshine during the day. Our old house is not liking this, and it is back to bedsocks at night for the first time since Februa”
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Beautiful, Alison. That bloom of L.D Braithwaite makes me forgive him for his spindly growth. I love the drama of the term ‘freezing fog’. I wish we had just a few more days of hoar frost. I remember one very cold January driving up Blue Bell Hill and all the trees being completed gilded with several days’ frost. It was an amazing sight.
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