Grass 002 Wm[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=
 
 

For most of this winter it hasn’t even been cold enough to stop the lawn from growing. It’s also been so wet there wasn’t a chance to get out and mow it. Then, on Wednesday morning, the quagmire turned white.

It didn’t last long. Above, the first weak rays of sunshine were already beginning to melt the frost.

 
 

Saxifraga stolonifera 005 Wm[1]

 

Saxifraga stolonifera

 

On a frosty winter morning foliage comes into its own. The fine coating of ice brings the structure of a garden to the fore, highlighting edges on a macro scale and adding texture to each and every leaf.

 
 

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Ice crystals cling to the leaves of Primula vulgaris

 

I’ve been rather neglectful of blogging over the last week or so, your place and mine, for which I apologise. I’ve been stuck to the computer working on a project to the exclusion of pretty much everything else. But there is light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully normal service will shortly resume.

I asked Mike if he would help me out by going outside at first light to get the shots for this post. The fact that it was so cold has nothing to do with it whatsoever, but you knew that of course. All went swimmingly until I asked him to identify some of the plants..

 
 

Geranium macrorrhizum 'Album' 005 Wm[1]

 
 

Some were obvious. Others, under their icy coating, a little less so. There followed much detective work. A retracing of steps based on the sequence of photographs on the camera. Mike, where did you walk after the Ophiopogon and before the Geum?

We think the above is Geranium macrorrhizum ‘Album’. Although by the time we came to go looking for it the frost had gone.

 
 

Fern frosty 003 Wm[1]

 

No doubt the fern fronds will soon be ready to be cut back.

 
 

Ophiopogon nigrescens 005 Wm[1]

 

Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’ and winter heather

 

I’d intended linking this post to Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Day (here) at My Garden of the Hesperides, but I’m sure Christina will forgive an occasional photobombing bloom.

 
 

Hellebore frosty 003 Wm[1]

 

I couldn’t resist including the frosty hellebore..

 
 

Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' 004 Wm[1]

 

..or Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’

This plant has been in flower continuously since early summer last year.

 
 

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Sedum

 
 

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Skimmia japonica

But when all’s said and done, isn’t it really the sugar coated foliage which steals the January show?

 
 
 

Don't Walk On The Grass

pin it?

 
 
 
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