Before and After the Frost

Frost has finally come to my little corner of Maine, a light frost two nights ago and then a more serious freeze last night.

Two days ago, I had a surprising number of flowers still in bloom.

Petunias and dianthus were still blooming in a container on the deck,

Rudbeckia ‘Herbstsonne’ and Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’ in the blue and yellow border, and deep pink blooms of Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ and Spirea japonica ‘Magic Carpet’ in the deck border.

In the fence border, Phlox paniculata ‘David’ and Tradescantia ‘Zwanenburg Blue’ still bloomed,

… and morning glory buds still struggled to open on the fence.

On the back slope, daylily ‘Happy Returns’ was trying to open one last set of flowers, and chives were coming around for a second blooming.

Today, after two nights of frost, the morning glory vines are hanging limp on the garden fence.

But I am surprised to find some things still in bloom. The annuals growing on the deck have somehow survived for another day.

The ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum is a deeper wine red, but is still beautiful.

And oregano blossoms still grace the back slope.

 

But even without flowers, there is much beauty in the fall garden:

…in the feathery foliage of amsonia,

and in the fall-tinged foliage of geranium and rhododendron,

and in the seed heads of astilbe and siberian iris that remind us of the cycle of life and the promise of flowers for next year.