Frozen Foliage Day – December 2011

Finally we had some frost this morning. Everybody in the World is saying this has been a weird year, all the season are confused, too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet, blah blah blah… It’s true but sometimes it’s good to see some winter special effects in the garden and frost is the one I prefer (I hate snow). I like it more when it’s foggy at night and cold, so you find hoarfrost in the morning… I use to see it more often when I lived in the mountains though.

Frost not only makes beautiful crystals above everything but it also darkens some perennials and brightens up the grasses. I  love walking on crispy grass, feeling that dumb silence of ice.

As the sun rose, the frost crystals melted down and everything was softened and wet. The grass garden still looks beautiful to me, even without flowers. I’d like to plant some hellebores, they would be perfect but I’m afraid they wouldn’t be happy in summer, unless I’d plant them amongst taller grasses which provide some shadow in summer… I should give a try.

Last night, taken by a winter blue moment I started browsing the pictures I’ve taken earlier this year. I must admit I’ve been inspired by a post by Bridget from Arigna, she framed her best 2011 moments in one post. I think I’m doing something similar by the end of the year, I like it.

By the time I went upstairs to take a picture of the frozen grass garden, all the frost was disappeared. Shame.

I am very disappointed at the moment because of the first floor windows: we ordered them last july, they came by the end of september saying the manufacturer had failed, so we placed another order with another manufacturer. ‘It’s going to take 2 months’ they said: finally last week they arrived with the brand new windows, I was so excited… Shame they wrong colour. Frames were light brown instead of dark brown. I need windows made on size for this old house, so I can’t go wherever and just buy some windows. So we have to wait. Two months again. I feel kind of annihilated. I took the day off, that day, just to check on them mounting the windows but at the end I send them away very quickly… With the rest of the day off and nothing to do (we decided it wasn’t the case of going on working on the timber beams, as we were too disappointed) I proposed to go to the seaside. We’ve never been to the coast this year and it’s only 20 km away from home. We spend the day walking on the beach of Caorle, with Rudy. Collecting seashells and watching the sea. With the brains set on the ‘f#@*k the world’ mode. It’s been relaxing.

Back to the garden Ale went on pretty well with some tasks:

He set a boundary between the gravel garden, the yard and the rose garden. You see that straight line where the pebbles end, I decided to plant 5 green cubes in a row. I haven’t decided yet which plant I should use.

I received other 20ish bare root roses from La Campanella, yesterday morning I managed to plant 6 of them and put the rest on a big container with sand. I still have to plant more than half of the other roses…

As the walnut tree was almost dying because of water log last year, we decided to level the ground around it and dig a ditch to drain the water away from the center of the garden and possibly direct it to the (future) pond.

Ale would like to build another squared pool at the beginning (as you can see he has already decided as he dug more there…). I think it’s a good idea. This pond will keep us busy for a while, next year…

What else? Ah! Of course it’s foliage day with Christina @ Garden of the Hesperides which I am joining in advance this month (it’s supposed to be on 22nd), so I leave you with another image of the grass garden and an image of the frozen fields behind Cà Rossa, I have this view from my bathroom in the morning… It feels very chilly seeing it when you just got up.

Tags: foliage, frost, grass garden, grasses, gravel garden, light, rose garden, winter

• 20 December 2011
• Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, Trips and reportages
• 15 Comments