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You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Frost Flowers!

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Frost Flowers!

by Anne Laurie|  December 5, 20216:50 am| 44 Comments

This post is in: Garden Chats

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Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Frost Flowers!

From beloved commentor & ace photographer Ozark Hillbilly:

Friday morning, November 26th, our temps hit 15 degrees. Trusty camera in hand, your faithful, intrepid, and 3 limbed servant ventured forth in search of the elusive frost flowers.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Frost Flowers! 1

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Frost Flowers! 2

He had hoped to find them blooming in abundance. Sadly, they were even more timorous than usual, hiding deep in the shadows of cedars and rock bluffs, staying well out of the blustery north wind that had been stalking the hills and hollers the night before.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Frost Flowers! 3

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Frost Flowers! 4

Ever willing to sacrifice much for the needs of the many, he persisted in acquiring a few examples for your mornings perusals and managed to do so in spite of a slinged arm, failing batteries, and irritable bowels.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Frost Flowers! 5

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Frost Flowers! 6

You f’n jackals better appreciate it, cause I don’t think his wife did.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Frost Flowers! 7

***********

What’s going on in your (indoor / tropical) garden (planning), this week?

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Previous Post: « COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday / Sunday, Dec. 4-5
Next Post: Sunday Morning Open Thread: Celebrate the Holidays »

Reader Interactions

44Comments

  1. 1.

    eclare

    December 5, 2021 at 6:59 am

    Thank you for the photos! I’ve never seen a frost flower in person.

  2. 2.

    raven

    December 5, 2021 at 7:00 am

    Awesome, Dawg.

  3. 3.

    rikyrah

    December 5, 2021 at 7:04 am

    Good Morning Everyone ???

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    December 5, 2021 at 7:05 am

    Pictures are beautiful ?

  5. 5.

    Rachel Bakes

    December 5, 2021 at 7:20 am

    Wow

  6. 6.

    There go two miscreants

    December 5, 2021 at 7:25 am

    They are very pretty; I don’t recall ever seeing them either! Will have to keep an eye out — I am usually up early enough but not generally outside.

  7. 7.

    waysel

    December 5, 2021 at 7:25 am

    Appreciated by this fk’n jackal. Most cool.

  8. 8.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    December 5, 2021 at 7:28 am

    Those are beautiful. Despite living in cold country all my life, I’ve never seen them.

  9. 9.

    Van Buren

    December 5, 2021 at 7:41 am

    Never seem ’em or heard of ’em.
    Must be fake.
    Forgive me, I am cranky as I supposed to be out of this hospital Friday and still here I lie, held hostage, just for the trivial reason that my ticker has gone bonkers.

  10. 10.

    HinTN

    December 5, 2021 at 7:46 am

    He’s intrepid and the results are excellent. Thanks!

  11. 11.

    debbie

    December 5, 2021 at 7:53 am

    They really are very cool. Thank your wife for all of us!

  12. 12.

    satby

    December 5, 2021 at 7:57 am

    You f’n jackals better appreciate it, cause I don’t think his wife did.

    LOL, I sure did! ? ?

  13. 13.

    satby

    December 5, 2021 at 7:58 am

    @Van Buren: I’m so sorry! Is “bonkers” the term the cardiologist is using? Get better and get home soon.

  14. 14.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 5, 2021 at 7:58 am

    I love frost flowers! These are wonderful photos, and the commentary is hilarious. Much appreciated, Ozark, on a blecchy Sunday morning.

  15. 15.

    raven

    December 5, 2021 at 8:01 am

    Damn, we heard the sirens about 4am. When I took Artie out I saw all the fire trucks up the hill and went up to find there was a house fire at our neighbors. No one hurt and they and all the critters are safe but folks are scrambling to help them find quarters.

  16. 16.

    Scout211

    December 5, 2021 at 8:02 am

    Those frost flowers are beautiful!

  17. 17.

    satby

    December 5, 2021 at 8:04 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: The benefit of having to go feed the lone outside cat I can’t..quite…capture yet is that I sit outside, appropriately bundled up, and get to greet the occasional lovely dawn. It’s supposed to rain here, and the “red sky at morning” is bearing that out. He likes companionship while he eats, taking occasional breaks to come over for a petting or skritch.

  18. 18.

    JPL

    December 5, 2021 at 8:06 am

    Just beautiful.

     

    @Van Buren: May tomorrow be better.

  19. 19.

    Argiope

    December 5, 2021 at 8:08 am

    Stunning photos! Now I have to go Google frost flowers to find out more about this lovely phenomenon.  Sorry about the bowels, and hope you can ditch that sling soon.  Blech!

  20. 20.

    Miki

    December 5, 2021 at 8:18 am

    Wow! What a brilliant way to start one’s day! Much appreciated.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 5, 2021 at 8:22 am

    @satby:

    Sounds as though he is just on the verge of allowing himself to be “captured.” You are so patient in not rushing him. He’ll know when he is ready to trust fully.

    The weather here looks fine — that wasn’t what I meant by “blecchy” — but I still have a lingering touch of yesterday’s tickle throat and annoying dry little cough. Nothing to mention in light of Van Buren’s ticker and OH’s be-slinged arm!

  22. 22.

    narya

    December 5, 2021 at 8:25 am

    Those are amazing–I didn’t even know such a thing existed! Thank you for your intrepidity.

    I second satby’s enjoyment of the dawn. I think I’ve mentioned that my mom was enjoying my pix of the sunrise, so I’ve been trying to take one on the morning run each day. That, in turn, has made ME pay closer attention, sometimes taking a pic from the same spot several days in a row. It’s made me much more aware of how much the lake changes from day to day.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 5, 2021 at 8:25 am

    @Van Buren: I hate that shit. Had a similar experience post shoulder surgery for different reasons. Maybe looking at the frost flowers and chanting, “Om mani padme hum…” will soothe the wild beast that lies in your chest.

  24. 24.

    Immanentize

    December 5, 2021 at 8:34 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I love your frost flower pics. They may be my favorite Garden Chat images. Thank you. I think it is how I know that in an hour they will all be gone that makes their really amazing unique beauty so valuable. Even when it is a picture.

    Please thank the Mrs. for her indulgence from me?

  25. 25.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 5, 2021 at 8:35 am

    Supposed to be at least partly sunny here, and in the mid-40’s. May take the convertible out for a last spin before covering it up until April or so.

  26. 26.

    Immanentize

    December 5, 2021 at 8:36 am

    @Van Buren: I am urging your ticker to SIMMER DOWN! And BE-HAVE! from afar.

    Good luck and don’t let them try any ivermectin as a cure.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    December 5, 2021 at 8:54 am

    @Van Buren: i am sending the mind meld to your ticker with the message that it should settle down and rest, so that will surely do the trick.

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    December 5, 2021 at 9:24 am

    Beautiful photos, glad they’re here. Thanks, OH!!!

    But: “beloved commentor”? Doesn’t Ozark prefer to be “blech-loved/-loving commentor”?

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 5, 2021 at 9:38 am

    @SFAW: Not even my wife refers to me as “beloved”. If I’m good, I mean really good, I become “tolerable”.

  30. 30.

    MelissaM

    December 5, 2021 at 9:43 am

    I appreciate! Very much so, in fact! What an amazing and temporary thing a frost flower is. Thank you for your service, OH!

  31. 31.

    Kristine

    December 5, 2021 at 10:02 am

    Lovely photos!

    I don’t recall ever seeing frost flowers here–I’d think I’d remember. Hoarfrost, yes. It’s lovely in its own way

    Pellets (graupel?) falling here in NE Illinois. Rain expected later, followed by a temp drop and wind. Should be fun putting up the outdoor tree tomorrow. That said, it’s just a spiral electric tree that I’ll be securing in a planter, so it shouldn’t take long. Outdoor decorations will be minimalist this year.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 5, 2021 at 10:14 am

    @Kristine: Pellets (graupel?) falling here in NE Illinois.

    In NWS parlance, “sleet”. Took me years to learn that.

  33. 33.

    Kristine

    December 5, 2021 at 10:20 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Apparently there’s a difference–I recall some online discussions a few weeks ago when we received a round of stuff falling out of the sky. According to NOAA:

    Graupel are soft, small pellets formed when supercooled water droplets (at a temperature below 32°F) freeze onto a snow crystal, a process called riming. If the riming is particularly intense, the rimed snow crystal can grow to an appreciable size, but remain less than 0.2 inches. Graupel is also called snow pellets or soft hail, as the graupel particles are particularly fragile and generally disintegrate when handled.

    Sleet are small ice particles that form from the freezing of liquid water drops, such as raindrops. At ground level, sleet is only common during winter storms when snow melts as it falls and the resulting water refreezes into sleet prior to hitting the ground. In thunderstorms, sleet is possible above the melting level where cloud droplets become supercooled and may instantaneously freeze when making contact with other cloud particles or debris, such as dust particles. Sleet is also called ice pellets.

    Still not super clear, but I take it to mean that graupel is softer and possibly powdery, while sleet is ice BBs.

  34. 34.

    oldgold

    December 5, 2021 at 10:21 am

    Frost Flowers
    The rain to the wind said, You push and I’ll pelt.’ They so smote the garden bed That the flowers actually knelt, And lay lodged–though not dead. I know how the flowers felt.

    Robert Frost

  35. 35.

    Betty

    December 5, 2021 at 10:46 am

    I love the frost flower pictures. Thanks for the poem, oldgold. Hope your get better news soon, Van Buren!

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    December 5, 2021 at 11:01 am

    @Kristine: while sleet is ice BBs.

    Which is what I thought you were referring to when you said, “pellets”. FTR, “Graupel” is a new term to me. Don’t think I’d ever read it before.

  37. 37.

    opiejeanne

    December 5, 2021 at 12:11 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: Thanks for getting these photos for us, and I’m sorry it caused you to suffer. These are wonderful, and I’ve never seen anything like them.

    We have an odd phenomenon here in the PNW that someone told me were frost flowers, but they are nothing like yours. Ours are the result of the ground being so saturated that when the temp drops below freezing, the water in the soil expands upwards and creates little columns, sometimes wearing a pebble like a little hat.

  38. 38.

    waratah

    December 5, 2021 at 12:30 pm

    Wow just Wow! Thank you  as someone that shares some of your physical difficulties I know the photos were not easy to shoot and you did not cut back.

  39. 39.

    NotoriousJRT

    December 5, 2021 at 12:32 pm

    Fabulous!  Thank you!

  40. 40.

    waratah

    December 5, 2021 at 12:35 pm

    @oldgold: Thank you. I had a public school education with teachers that loved English poets. I was so lucky.

  41. 41.

    satby

    December 5, 2021 at 12:43 pm

    @oldgold: beautiful! I didn’t remember that one.

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    December 5, 2021 at 1:10 pm

    Stunning, Ozark, just stunning.

    Say what you want, but you are beloved here.  Fairly certain that you are beloved at home, as well, but as it’s a Sunday morning I don’t wish to argue.

  43. 43.

    currants

    December 5, 2021 at 1:22 pm

    @oldgold:

    Oh, NICE!  Thank you!

  44. 44.

    currants

    December 5, 2021 at 1:26 pm

    @WaterGirl: ​
     

    Yes, Ozark–what WG said. She’s right. They are so beautiful! And only with sense of scale you get from the occasional stem can you understand how delicate and fragile they are, because they appear solidly shaped (well, as solidly as ice can be).

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