I'm excited to report we've had an increasing amount of real frost! Not the light dusting we'd grown used to in London but a white blanket of harsh, sparkling crystal. Not to mention a few days of snow.
Frost makes it very clear it's the end of the growing season, turning all tender leaves black, it also marks the start of the frost season. Our garden right now doesn't have the structures and shapes to truly draw out all of the beauty of frost but it will!
Throughout this year I've been planting various perennials for the new garden that I know tick a number of boxes: long flowering season, good for wildlife, and a winter structure that looks top dollar coated in frost.
Daisies mentioned in the last newsletter, like Rudbeckia and Echinacea, tend to have strong stems and large bobbles for frost and snow to sit on. Teasels, Dipsacus fullonum, I mention in my book Wild about Weeds, have similar structure on a larger scale.
Grasses of course are perfect frost partners and evergreen conifer…
