Christmas Berries, Buds & First Snow

Published on by Catherine20 Comments

Six on Saturday

It’s almost the end of 2023 – it seems to have arrived so quickly! For my final Six on Saturday of 2023, I have five topics and ten photos, and I know that’s a slight deviation from the normal requirements, but I hope our host, Jim won’t object!

Frosted Cotoneaster Horizontalis

The one plant in my garden that takes on the most Christmassy appearance is the Cotoneaster. Those bright red berries and tiny leaves coated in white wouldn’t look out of place as a decoration on top of a Christmas cake, but the frost would melt away as soon as it reached the kitchen, wouldn’t it!  I’ll leave it where it is. 😁

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Rose Hips

Published on by Catherine8 Comments

Last month I headed into the garden determined to bring my wayward rose bushes under control before winter arrived. Many were out of control with long, floppy stems, waving around in the wind like they had a mind of their own. I was late in getting started with this job, it should have been dealt with weeks before but they still had to be tamed as winter damage to the stems could result in damage to the whole plant.

It was a chilly, but sunny morning, and the sun was in my eyes. Mostly I was looking downwards and I didn’t notice, until I lifted my head, that I was cutting off stems with gorgeous big, fat, rose hips. Oh dear.

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Frost

Published on by Catherine22 Comments

Winter frost creates an atmosphere of calm that I love – despite the bitter cold that accompanies it. I love the muted colours that appear in the garden and on farmland beyond our fence.

The pale green of frosted grass sets the scene and the frost works its magic by coating the remains of autumn foliage, softening them to lightly coloured golds, browns and greens. The stillness of the early morning mist obscures any distracting objects in the landscape beyond, but within the hour the sun will break through to touch the plants and the mist will lift. The air is cold enough to believe that this frost will not thaw much, and by night another layer will be added to it, or perhaps a blanket of snow will follow.

Here are a few softly-coated, frosted leaves that one early December morning brought to tempt me out with the camera.

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Botanical Explosions

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It was a bitterly cold, frosty morning when I wandered around the garden and came across this oddity. I initially thought that the seedheads on the Japanese Anemone ‘Honorine Jobert’ were coated with frost, but as soon as I drew closer I saw that it wasn’t frost, it looked like cotton wool, with just a tiny hint of frost on top.

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Strawberry Frost

Published on by Catherine19 Comments

Friday 24th November was a still, sunny day and the overnight forecast of -3C had me thinking that we might wake up to a frosty Saturday morning. I wasn’t wrong. Saturday was glistening white in the garden and over the fields behind us.

The sun was rising as I ate my breakfast and looked for the warmest clothes I owned. By the time I finally got myself together, (I’ve been battling a nasty chest infection for five weeks, so I’m not exactly the fastest mover) the sunbeams were hitting the plants in the back of my garden. I knew it wouldn’t be long before those rays started thawing out the frosty leaves. Luckily, the paths were clear and dry, which was a relief because I’m always cautious around slippery surfaces. Eventually, I was ready to step outside to snap a few photos.

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