Gardens through the seasons

8 Nov '07 6:50 am

Here are the rest.

8 Nov '07 8:56 am

What lovely pictures - I particularly love the close-up of the echinacea (or is it a cone flower - or are they the same thing? I'm confused!

) and the icy roses. Ooh, I hope all your animals aren't too chilly! Do your horses get winter coats? I love it when they grow that thick, messy fur - they look so cute Very Happy

8 Nov '07 10:37 am

I'm so surprised that you're getting frost already. Your green-house work area is so large, inviting and usefull looking. Do you have to bring many things in for the winter? You certainly have the room for them.

I was really taken by that frosted zinnia. It's almost monochromatic, in the amber tones that suggest some older photographic techniques. Your roses look taken by surprise, as though this were your first frosty morning and everything had been going their way up until last night. Your "favorite trees" are some of my favorite trees as well. I love those tall, wispy pines especially. I'm not so much drawn to grow them here as I am to see them au naturale. It would be great to hike and camp in an area with this sort of forrestation. One of these days.

I can certainly see why you'd come in with your hands cold. Nothing like putting them around a warm mug though. Thanks for the tour!

8 Nov '07 3:26 pm

Hi, Faith-

Well, after a couple of days' rest from the 'net, I'm back to tell you how much I liked your "Frost" pictures. I especially liked the echinacea and the Frosty Foliage ones! Good for you! I guess I really should get up some energy to get back into my garden after ignoring it for a couple of weeks!

Cheers!

gordonf

8 Nov '07 6:55 pm

You really have upped the stakes these last weeks - we've seen aspects of your garden we could only imagine before, and gorgeous photos. Don't you find that going out with forum-friends in mind enhances one's enjoyment of one's garden and makes one look with new eyes at things you've taken for granted.

Well done, thank you and KEEP POSTING!

(I meanwhile have yet to resize any of Sunday's pics Sad

)

9 Nov '07 10:00 am

Thanks to everyone. The Echinacia was one of my favorites as well. I loved the way the frost piled up on the tips almost like snow. As for having lots of room in the greenhouse, photos can be deceiving. It really is almost too small once I get all the overwintering pots in. Someone once told me that ponds and greenhouses could never be too large. And, yes I do find wandering around my garden with my Forum friends in mind makes me see things through different eyes. I think we all need to have visitors to our gardens, even if only digital ones, to give us that different perspective.

The frost pictures were pretty, but now so much is just black and droopy that it will be hard for a while to find something of interest to photograph. Just have to put on the old thinking cap again. I still have not taken my camera with me for any of my forays off the farm. I should do this very soon before all our fall foliage disappears.

9 Nov '07 9:11 pm

Hi Faith! It's absolutely captivating walking around your beautiful garden from season to season and now equipped with an impressive handy map too! Simply delightful seeing all your gorgeous pictures - Willie is such a darling, the fabulous fall colors is a dream and just love those icy-tipped blooms and foliage! Thanks so much, dear friend! Very Happy

10 Nov '07 2:08 am

Dear Jacqueline, thanks for your comments on my most recent postings. Coming from someone whose photographs I admire tremendously, your comments are most welcome.

I realized after my last posting that I had failed to answer a question from Bambi about the horses. Yes, they are beginning to put on their thick winter coats. Some fuzz up more than others, but they will all put on thicker hair. Horses actually are most comfortable at about 50 degrees F (10 C), so they like the colder weather. I don't worry about them being too cold until we have prolonged cold spells that fall below 30 F (4 C) for a week or more. Then their water buckets and the pond edges begin to freeze over and I worry. Usually, we only have these extreme cold spells once or twice during the winter. Otherwise, we have fairly mild temperatures throughout the winter months.

12 Nov '07 1:07 am

Faith!! I enjoyed SO much your latest captures!! I particularly enjoyed your glasshouse, which is more of a real house, well arranged to function for garden work!! While mine is actually a glasshouse , which functions ONLY for over-wintering my frost-sensitive perennial plants, all of them pot-plants, of course.

12 Nov '07 1:39 pm

Thanks dear Liza. My little potting shed/sunspace is one of my favorite things about my gardens. I have lusted after a greenhouse for years, but when we finally planned to build one I decided I wanted a potting shed where I could overwinter plants and start seedlings, etc.; but a place to also store all my gardening supplies and something of a little hideaway where I could work even in winter. We purchased a 10 x 12 foot kit, which meant all the precut lumber, glass panels and basic hardware were included. To that we added insulation and finished walls inside, a clay tile floor and roof shingles. We had it wired for electricity so I could have lights and a small heater and even a coffee pot (which comes in handy for making warm water for seed starting). I installed a water hose with a faucet on the end to provide cold water only. My father gave me all the cabinets that I used to outfit the inside. He had salvaged them from some apartments that were being renovated. As I said before, it is really a little small, but I manage to get all my pots in there for overwintering and can even find a little room for seedlings in the spring.

Gardens through the seasons

Frosty Morn 2

Great pics, Faith

Nice greenhouse work-space!

Frost!

Lovely, Faith!

Frosty Morn

Thanks to Jacqueline

Your latest captures!!