Missed By Frost, Kissed By Frost

Jack Frost can be pretty sneaky around here in the fall.  Last night there were no frost warnings issued.  When we stepped out the door this morning it was warm enough that frost seemed impossible.  This afternoon though, a walk around the garden made it obvious that  sometime during the night we had a cold icy visitor.  Nasturtiums find Jack's  breath to be the kiss of death, but these yellow nasturtiums inside the four stone walls look fine. They were missed by the frost.

These nasturtiums not too far away in one of the garden beds were lightly kissed by frost.  They took it hard.  It is October and time to say goodbye!

Basil hates frost. In fact it doesn't even like to be cool.  The basil between two of Ed's stone paths and  close to the front of our white house looks fine.  Clearly it was missed by the frost.

The basil in the garden was hit by the frost.  It was not enough to kill the entire plant outright, but these plants had a near death experience.  The compost is the perfect place for them now!  We hate cleaning up totally dead slimy basil but pulling these plants that are still holding their dead leaves won't be so bad.

This unusual self planted gourd plant is growing perhaps 18 inches above the ground on an old compost pile.   It was missed by the frost.

The gourd vine that got missed by the frost shows at the upper left of this picture.  The vine growing at ground level got kissed pretty hard by the frost.  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, compost to compost.  This plant has a very short trip to its final resting place!

Unusual Sights in the Stone Wall Garden

This is not a place where mushrooms and fungi usually flourish. Normally it's too dry and well drained. The bright orange  texture of this unknown fungus really got my attention.

I thought for sure by this time the nasturtiums would have turned to slime. They  look and taste fantastic right now. Perhaps the slime will come on the weekend. Today it is warm and we are expecting, what else but rain.

Early this morning Canada geese flew low over the high meadow. They are working on their formations. This afternoon a dark phase marsh hawk flew by my living room window low enough so that I could clearly see its distinctive white rump patch . The cinnamon colored bird was either a female or an immature.  Most of the time we only get to see the underside of these birds.

We planted filberts in 1998. Finally this year, it has quite a few of these . Now  rain and lightning has started up. There's nothing unusual about that, but three moon flowers are opening in the rain. The big white flowers can be seen from inside the house even on this dark rainy night.