It looked like we had a pretty hard frost on Tuesday morning, but my frost barometer, the dahlias, remain unimpressed.  They are still green and upright and not the black mush that is the truest sign that we’ve dipped below freezing.  There was frost on the ground again today and I took some pictures.

These were cherry leaves and the ribs were wonderfully outlined with frost crystals.  Only the shaded areas of the garden had much frost left by the time I made my way outside.  It turned out to be a beautiful day, and the perfect day for me to tackle the final 2015 lawn mow.  I love the final lawn mow of the year–it is like vacuuming the lawn!  All those leaves, blown in from all over the neighborhood, chewed up and spit back on the lawn to support it for next year.

I saw a mystery from the front window this morning–a white rose blooming out by the street.  This is one of the rose plants that Leon dug up from his late mother’s garden.  The  surprise is that this poor hybrid tea was one of the victims of Leon’s flash-weeding in the summer and I thought for sure it was dead!  Instead, it looks like this:

 

The veggie garden had some fun things to see–Borage flowers that I just can’t resist:

These were complemented beautifully by the yellow calendulas in the same bed:

The wonderberries are mostly ripe now and I’m thinking of picking a bunch of them and freezing them for smoothies:

I took some more Coral Bark Maple pics, too–just losing the last of their brilliant foliage, but still spectacular against the bluest skies you’ve ever seen:

Here are some pictures from inside the greenhouse.  It was so warm in there today, but I have the fans going and opened the door mid-day.

Stuffed completely (almost)!

For some reason, some of the Masdevallias are blooming:

The Cymbidium buds look healthy still and bug-free and I watered them well today.  I’ll fertilize them again next weekend.

The Pleione is beautifully deciduous, even in the greenhouse!

Some other random pics from the greenhouse/garden:

These potatoes came up in the veggie garden right where I had planted the alpine strawberries.  They seem a bit confused as to timing…

Matricarias  blooming in a pot near the Doug fir bed.  These are one of my favorite volunteer plants–cheerful and neat and easy to manage.

These don’t show too well, but they are Cotoneasters that I grew from seed several years ago and am training for bonsai.  They color up so brightly with yellow/red/orange mixed in with fresh green.

Here is the cold frame full of bulb pots for later forcing.  The mixed weather will help speed up root growth, but I will need to insulate these soon to keep them from trying to sprout before they have a good foundation.