Our first frost came at the weekend and our second was last night, but that didn’t amount to much, but thank goodness all the tender plants were safely tucked away keeping nice and warm. Frost though has a beauty all of its own, nature has a way of decorating the garden with little touches that make the leaves look beautiful.
An icy edging to the ivy.
The box balls look as though they have a dusting of icing sugar.
Fallen leaves have a sprinkling of frost.
Crispy curled leaves on top of the box cubes.
Cotoneaster horizontalis rimmed with frost.
And now for the fungi that have popped up in the garden.
While sweeping the leaves up the other day, I found this large solid looking toadstool on the lawn.
It looked rather slimy, so I resisted the urge to touch it!
I found these in the woodland next to where I was piling all the leaves.
I thought this one was much prettier. It is about 7 inches across.
All it needed was a pixie or fairy sitting on top!
Sometimes it is amazing what you find in the garden, beauty in the most unexpected places.
Pauline, I couldn’t agree more with your premise, there’s magic in discovering what is often overlooked. What lovely pale mushrooms/toadstools (?). So far very little frost here, which I always look forward to at this time of year. Lots of eerie swirling morning mists instead which seem in late autumn, to have a sad beauty of their own. Somehow the summer mists evoke a different mood?
I feel that if I call something a mushroom then I can eat it Kate, if it is a toadstool then I can’t! The frost that came wasn’t forecast and then the other night we were told the temperature would be -2C so the heater was put on in the conservatory, next morning – nothing! Morning mists are very atmospheric and are quite beautiful. Freezing fog even better, that makes the garden like fairyland!
You’ve captured the magic that frost weaves on our gardens beautifully. We’ve not experienced a frost yet this year and are having record high temperatures for this time of the year which I’m quite enjoying. Fungi are also a bit of unexpected magic at this time of year and are such a joy to see!
I love the way fungi suddenly appear Peter, one day nothing, next day, such interesting shapes on the lawn. Our weather changed from very warm suddenly when the wind started coming from the North Pole!
We are still waiting for that first hard frost Pauline. It was so cold last night that I was convinced that we would wake up to it this morning but it was not to be. Sleet is forecast for tonight. That frilly fungi is most attractive and I too can see a fairy perched atop.
The last frost that was forecast here Anna didn’t materialise, everywhere was green next morning. At the moment it is blowing a gale so when it gets lighter I’m sure I’ll see a lawn covered with leaves!
The frost really is so pretty isn’t it? Here we have gone one step further and are now a foot deep in snow which looks lovely but causes a lot of extra work! I love your mushroom photos. The large frilly ones are probably the one called ‘the parasol mushroom’, for obvious reasons. Do you pick mushrooms? Here we pick chanterelles and ceps in the autumn and a few other good edible mushrooms.
I’m sure your snow looks beautiful Denise and I suppose your plants are grateful for the extra covering for when it gets really cold. I don’t know enough about toadstools and mushrooms so I never pick them.
I have been noticeing ‘mushrooms’ here too, Pauline – they seem to suddenly appear, don’t they? You have captured ome lovely frosted pictures
We seem to get different ones at different times of the year Cathy, so many different shapes and sizes.
It is fascinating watching the garden change with the seasons, although I feel we’ve gone from heatwave to frost very quickly this year. I love all your photos and descriptions. I agree that fungi seem to appear overnight in the garden and there are so many different types, too.
The temperatures did change almost overnight didn’t they Wendy. So much wind over the last couple of days means that so many leaves are now waiting to be swept up and with the undergardener back in hospital this week, that’s down to me, maybe I will find more toadstools to photograph.
We’ve yet to have a frost like the one you had – and yet not that far from you in Somerset.
The fungi seem to pop up in unusual places don’t they – yours are very attractive.
The one I photographed wasn’t even forecast Sue! a few days later, they said we would have one but it never appeared! I love the fungi, but not knowing anything about them, I leave them well alone and just enjoy looking at them!
Wonderful photos – both the frost and fungi! Frost outlines and emphasizes the shape of things in an almost magical way. And fungi have such an odd, almost alient quality that makes them quite fascinating.
Thank you Jason, frost does make the garden look very pretty at times. We get lots of smaller toadstools on the lawn and in flower beds, but the two I found the other day were so big, quite unbelievable!
The frost is beautiful if we have the eyes to see it. The frost-dusted foliage of the Box is magical isn’t it. We are promised a frost this week (very early for us), so we’ll have to see if it creates some magic here.
We have since had another frost Christina, not forecast this time, but the leaves didn’t look so pretty. Rain is forecast for the rest of the week so I must try and sweep more leaves up before it comes. hope your frost isn’t too severe.
You captured some of the magic of this time of year Pauline. Nice and evocative images. We had our first frost over the weekend and it changed the landscape completely. Hope you and your family are doing well.
Thank you Susie, you’re very kind. Frost makes such a change to the garden, it looks completely different with its coating of icing!
We had a bit of a hiccup last week when the undergardener had to be rushed to hospital and then stayed for 5 days! He is now half way through his chemo and his immune system was rock bottom, he had picked up an infection and developed blood clots but this was all sorted, thank goodness.It’s lovely having him home once more.
I can’t say I find frost magical but your images do their best to give that impression. Lovely photographs.
Beauty is in the frost Ian, it brings an extra dimension to the garden and kills off all the nasties! Good to hear from you, thanks for leaving a message.