Plant Talk

Deep Freeze with Frosted Cabbages Signals the End of Gardening Season

It was 24 degrees in my garden in Langley when I got up this morning, and no surprise after the brightness of myriad stars in the clear sky overnight. Red leaves fluttered down this morning as we crunched our way into town for coffee, even though there's not a breath of wind - the thick frost  has finished off this year's leaves even in more sheltered places. The sheep in the pastures look dusted in glitter as, well insulated in their woolly coats, they contentedly munch their way across the gilded, grassy hillside.

Frost is a great magician that can make even ornamental cabbages look breathtaking on such a frigid, sunny morning. No matter what the calendar says, winter is here. Yet the garden is bustling this morning with chickadees flitting through, clinging to the remains of perennials and grasses, keeping the garden alive through the deep freeze.

The gardens at Useless Bay Coffee Company in Langley on a frosty November morning....

A Killing Frost So Early - A Foreshadowing of the Winter to Come?

  We had a thick, heavy frost in Langley last night - an irony that such a sparkling, bright glitter means death to seasonal plants. Already this morning, the coleus that was full and lush yesterday is a black heap, fragrant heliotrope collapsed and the begonias, too, are goners.

It's so unusual to have such a serious frost this early and first-off - we can usually expect several light frosts as warnings to bring plants indoors for the winter or kiss them goodbye.

Honestly, isn't it kind of a relief to have such decisive weather bring the gardening season to a close? It's time to scoop away the remnants of hostas, asters, geraniums and dahlias and find room to plant bulbs or just let the earth breath in the open air after the denseness of the autumn garden....and the frost is so beautiful, kissing the hydrangeas and maples with its pale, shimmery crystals....but, have you ever seen frost on Japanese maple leaves before? Usually the leaves are long gone before we get such a serious frost...an omen of winter weather to come?

 

Br-r-r-r-r-r......Protect Your Plants

  Beautiful snow in Seattle this morning, but not enough accumulation to insulate plants from the bitter cold to come. Cliff Mass warns of temperatures in the teens, which coming  before plants have had a chance harden off will be especially damaging. Here's Cliff's prediction for the next couple of days:

"But it will be cold..tonight the temps will dip into the 20s in many locations and the winds will pick up. Really strong NE winds over NW WA and northerlies pushing down the Sound. Temperatures dropping into the low 20s and teens on the west side of the State on Tuesday AM...it will be brutal."

Every degree of freezing, and every day the cold lasts, makes a difference to plants...and they're especially vulnerable to chill, dessicating winds. So cut down your melianthus and gunnera and pile up their own leaves on top of the plant's crown. Any borderline plants needs a few extra layers of insulation right now. Wrap pots with towels or bubble wrap or whatever.  Better yet, drag pots into the house or garage if possible....or at least up against the house for protection...

Heads up to Langley gardeners - it's supposed to plunge to 18 degrees tomorrow night - your plants may never have experienced such cold temperatures.  For now, the snow is sticking even on lower Queen Anne hill, at the bottom of the Counterbalance....we could use several more inches to help protect our plants the next couple of frigid nights...

 

 

The Killing Frost

Finally, the nasturtiums are dead. Despite a 24 degree reading on the thermometer in my back garden, I've been outside clearing up the vines. Just last weekend I was still using the leaves and flowers in salads, clipping lemon verbena and chives....now it's a cold, frosty mess out there, and so beautiful.

This kind of clear, bright, sunny cold brings such clarity to the garden, the shadows are sharp, it's almost like every twig, leaf and branch is sharply outlined. It's a relief to clear away the fancy-leafed geraniums that were still plump and pretty a few days ago, clean up and mulch the gunnera which is truly collapsed this morning....

Enjoy these bright days of winter...only two weeks until the solstice!

Dead nasturtium vines and the end of the gunnera, and the consolation of the moon still shining over frosty Langley pastures  at 9 a.m. this morning....