During the night Jack Frost spread his icy fingers across the garden and left a dusting of powdery white.
When the sun hangs low in the eastern sky,
Caught in the trees that shiver shy,
Red as the robin that flits nearby,
Sing hey, for a frosty morning!
When the lane is a-glitter beneath our feet,
Powdered with crystal, delicate, sweet,
And the quiet pond is a silver sheet,
Sing hey, for a frosty morning!
Come out, come out, while the sky is red,
over the crunching fields to tread,
Ere the frost in the kindling sun lies dead,
Sing, hey for a frosty morning!
Enid Blyton
over the crunching fields to tread,
Sing, hey for a frosty morning!
Enid Blyton
No going out on a cold frosty day for me.......
I've been treading over the "crunching fields" this morning, it was rather bracing! I might not have ventured so far if I had such a nice garden as that.
ReplyDeleteI poked my head outside the door John, but decided I would rather stay indoors today.
DeleteOh my, your garden is beautiful!! When we moved into our house ( rented ) 7 and a half years ago the grass was nearly 6" high, the beds were also grassy and weedy, the bushes/shrubs over grown and dead. There was an enormous bramble patch ( this took loads of super-strong weed killer and almost a year to get rid of ) The whole garden was overshadowed by 40' leylandii ( these were mostly dead and were cut down 3 years ago ) We've spent a lot of time and money to get it looking 'nice' by adding fencing and a greenhouse and a summerhouse and 2 lots of decking. We mostly grow veg and the garden is full of plants, but they're mostly left to their own devices. I'd love a beautiful garden, but you never know when the landlord might decide to sell the house and you have to move out. It's been very frosty and cold here too. Best, Jane x
ReplyDeleteGardens take such a lot of effort to layout and design, but we have tried to make ours as easy as we can to maintain.
DeleteYou certainly have a beautiful garden! I love a frosty nip in the air. Very bracing.
ReplyDeleteThey do say that a good frost kills all of the bugs.
DeleteBrrrr It is 19 degrees F here or -7 C. Your garden is just beautiful even in the frosty grip of winter. All your topiaries are gorgeous. I am glad I am not in my home city of Chicago though!
ReplyDeleteIs it in Chicago where they have been advised not to breath in too deeply whist outside, and to stay out of doors for no longer than 10 minutes?
DeleteYes, Chicago got hit with some of the coldest temperatures in the US. I have family that still lives there. My cousin threw a cup of boiling water up in the air. It froze instantly and came down as snow.
DeleteGosh! what story, I am just off to tell my husband about it. Thanks for letting me know💙
DeleteHello Rosemary, What a perfect, delicate, even coating of frost. I don't recall this look in Ohio--but maybe it is a reward for those who wake up in an appreciative mood! In Ohio we often got deep snows outlining every branch, and gem-like glazings of clear ice (beautiful, but not much fun to drive on!), but not such a confectioner's dusting--your garden looks like a Victorian dessert buffet.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Hello Jim - I love your idea of a Victorian dessert buffet dressed in a confectioner's dusting.
DeleteFrost is so pretty, and your garden is stunning. I love the stone wall and all the paving stones. Stay cozy!
ReplyDeleteWe certainly are Lorrie - the central heating is blasting away non stop.
DeleteYour garden is beautifully whitewashed. I hope that there will be no bad effects, nothing cold. Greetings.
ReplyDeleteFortunately all of the plants in the garden have no problem coping with this weather. All of my tender plants are brought into the conservatory at the beginning of the winter.
DeleteA lovely garden in the winter. Your cold is probably nowhere near as cold as it is here.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that you are right William - what we have heard on the news about the cold in America sounds really frightening.
DeleteI’m enjoying all the lovely snowy and frosty posts this evening. Don’t blame you staying indoors. Not a flake of snow here just rain sadly. B x
ReplyDeleteSnow here today Barbara - looks beautiful but I am not keen on it.
DeleteYour garden does look magical in the frost. Pleased you typed that you took the photos from inside, for I began to wonder and thought it's a wonder you didn't slip over in the frost.
ReplyDeleteThe frost only covers the plants and isn't normally very slippery Margaret.
DeleteDespite the garden looking artistic in the frost, I am sure the elderly and very young citizens risk serious damage to their health by breathing in freezing air. I would not like it at all.
ReplyDeleteWe had 44c last week, Melbourne's hottest day since temperatures were recorded :( The gardens are not beautiful here... they are brown and dry.
The temperature is not dangerous to ones health here Hels, it is not even below freezing at 2℃. However, in America it is quite another matter where the temperature due to a Polar Vortex is currently -40℃ and is a danger to health.
DeleteYour garden looks beautiful in the frost but I am sure it would look good whatever the season. Lovely verse from Enid Blyton. I hadn't heard it and was surprised by the author. Some frost would be quite welcome here - early to mid 30's this past week mid to late 20's next week. (Centigrade).
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Enid Blyton had written any poetry either Susan, I just happened to stumble across it on the internet.
DeleteYour garden looks like you have it sprinkled with powdered sugar! It looks beautiful. Here it comes and goes, have to be quick for a photo before it melted again.
ReplyDeleteIt lasted here for most of the day, but began to disappear in the late afternoon. Today we have snow!
DeleteI had thought to write thank you, Rosemary, for having braved the cold, but nice to know you photographed without leaving the comfort of the warm room. Your garden looks so delicious coated with the powdery sugar, especially the third Image. In Japan, Jack Frost is called “Fuyu Shogun” meaning General Winter. General Winter or General Frost is the frigid cold air mass from Siberia. Why “General”? The cold air mass of Siberia defeated Napoleon, Hitler, and so on. Stay warm.
ReplyDeleteYoko
Dear Yoko - thank you for telling me about “Fuyu Shogun” - it is always lovely to learn about another countries legends and stories so I appreciated that very much.
DeleteDid you see my post showing the Japanese Geisha Girl doll a couple of posts back? I had wondered if you would be able to reveal any more information about her to me.
Dear Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to see your garden. We have only seen snippets in the past. I knew that it would be very special, and so it is. You have made your design so complex yet there is so much visual space between each element. The incorporation of historic objects and structures makes it even more intriguing. May we see more as your garden moves into Spring.
Dear Gina - I did show more of the garden when I first started blogging but then I thought that it may get too boring for people to see on a regular basis. However, if you would like to see more then I will see what I can do.
DeleteHow wonderful. Really looking forward to seeing your garden as it grows. ox, Gina
Delete💙
DeleteAre you responsible for the lay out of your garden? It is very thoughtfully laid out. I always like it when the eye is drawn from one area to another. I'm admiring your use of lines and shapes and wishing I had a weathered wall. Is there a name for the arrangement capping the wall? Thanks for the tour on a frosty morning.
ReplyDeleteDear Susan - when we moved here it was just lawn and trees. My husband and I designed the garden together in stages so that we formed 'so called rooms' with path 'hallways' linking them together. We had a wonderful Cotswold stone waller who worked for us over a couple of years and interpreted our ideas exactly as we draw them. The wall toppings are known in our area as 'cocks and hens'.
DeleteGood to see the box hedges still looking good. Having ventured out yesterday and got thoroughly cold it's been a day in the warm for me today. Thankfully it looks to be getting warmer in a couple of days.
ReplyDeleteDear Jessica - I don't know if you knew but we got box blight and we actually removed several of our larger balls which was heart breaking. It spread all around the garden and we were at a loss as to what to do about it. However, suddenly a couple of years ago the box began to regenerate itself and lost all of the brown patches and is now very healthy looking. Our only regret is that we removed those lovely structural balls. Most of the box we grew ourselves from hundreds of our cuttings.
DeleteWe have snow today - I had a Doctor's appointment and rang the surgery thinking she would not be there, but was. We then risked life and limb driving there - it was very scary but luckily we managed there and back safely.
Your garden is truly beautiful even in winter and the frost adds a touch of magic ! I'm with you on the cold, I stay home too LOL .
ReplyDeleteI think that I will stay indoors today too!
DeleteA lot of colour in your garden, even in winter. Nice photos. Minus 8 today here in the early morning but sunny and clear.
ReplyDeleteThat is much colder than we have down here Bob, but it is a lovely sky here today too.
DeleteI like the sing song rhythm of the poem! Your box hedge designs and garden rooms surrounded by the stone walls are beautiful. Everything looks magical with the sprinkling of frost. You must be pleased that the box plants survived the blight after planting and seeing them grow over many years. One of those box balls is huge. My husband would enjoy doing the pruning as I think that it must be quite a therapeutic task. Our box hedges in Italy did not survive. We've planted bay and rosemary in the same place after digging up the root stumps of the box, but the plants will take a long time to get established especially without regular tending.
ReplyDeleteWe really do not understand how the Box managed to come back to life - Monty Don always recommends taking it out as soon as possible and burning it, but now I question that wisdom.
DeleteThe huge ball is actually Yew, it was originally a little seedling that planted itself in the garden - perhaps via a bird, and now it is a really beautiful large ball.
Hi rosemary,
ReplyDeleteHow much frost in the garden, it must have been very cold.
Beautiful photos.
Have a nice weekend
Stay well
Warm hugs
Maria
Divagar Sobre Tudo um Pouco
It is certainly very chilly Maria, but soon Spring will be on her way.
DeleteI do hope Spring is on the way, but your garden is very welcoming even under a layer of frost. We are unseasonably warm here in N. Texas, but old man winter will return later in the week.
ReplyDeleteYou have such diverse weather in America Janey, but glad to hear that you are in the warmer part. Chicago sounded rather alarming with such intense cold.
DeleteDear Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteYour garden is gorgeous with all the topiarys and you are wise to take the pictures from the window.
Stay warm and have a great week
Hugs
Carolyn
About 3 years ago we thought that we had lost all of our topiary as we got Box Blight, but very curiously and thankfully it went away again and they are all beautifully green again.
DeleteDearest Rosemary,
ReplyDeleteKnowing that all photos were taken from the inside, I know you were feeling cozy and just marveled at the view of this perfect frosting!
Mother Nature has her own ways of making things look attractive, after using the icy muffineer.
We biked this afternoon and it was way too warm for my down filled jacket, that I wore open!
Thursday will be 26˚C but we know it's not yet spring.
Hugs,
Mariette
Dear Mariette - you are lucky, there is nothing like a lovely warm sunny day to lift the spirits at this time of year, and it sounds as if you were both making the most of it.
Delete💛
DeleteBeautiful ♡
ReplyDeleteThank you Shilpa.
Delete♡
DeleteOh! how gorgeous - a dream of a garden Rosemary, and Enid Blyton brings back memories of all those wonderful childhood books, especially The Famous Five! What an amazing author she was.
ReplyDeleteBack to your beautiful garden - want one just like it with mature boxwoods (I have just a few small ones), lovely stone walls and pavers, and that stunning pond with statue (fountain?). Years of hard work and tending with much love is so obvious.
Thank you for sharing these lovely views from your windows. Hope it's warmed up a bit by now.
Mary -
The day after I took these photos we had snow, but luckily it had completely gone within 2 days. Now is reasonably mild.
DeleteWe had a Cotswold stonewaller working in the garden quite regularly for 3 years, who was wonderful, but we had fun designing it too.
What a beautiful frosty morning from your windows. Everything looks pretty covered with a dusting of snow. I wouldn't mind a little of that now!
ReplyDeleteHaving seen how hot it is with you Betty I can well understand that - how about us having a bit of a swap, you send me some on yours and I will send you some of ours.
DeleteHa ha, if only! It's cooler here today and raining at the moment, so a bit of a reviver.
DeleteI realized after typing my comment that the dusting of white on your garden was frost, not snow! I remember a frosty morning like that in Coventry. We started our little van and heard a loud bang! We had not put ant-freeze in. Fortunately, no serious damage done.
💚
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