Gorgeous hoar frost!

[Monika]

We had some beautiful hoar frost this morning, Everything was covered in thick white frost this morning and then the sun came out! Some trees looked as if they were completely covered in white blossom and twinkled in the sunshine.

After the hard frosts the last few nights, it is slowly warming up now and gardening can commence again. Will you be watching the eclipse of the moon early on Thursday morning? I think it will be overcast here, unfortunately.

[Primrose]

The frost may look attractive but alas,while we were away for 3 nights it completely ruined my early flowering Rhododron Praecox which had just burst into bloom with masses of pale mauve flowers. And on returning from Sussex on Sunday, we passed mile after mile of browned blackthorn bushes where the blossom had been completely ruined by the frost, so I guess there won't be any sloes this coming autumn.

[oldherbaceous]

Here it has also blackened the emerging stinging nettle shoots, and thats something i haven't seen for a long time.

[alan refail]

Dear OH

I'm sure you'll have learned a lesson and will be planting your nettles a little later next year

Alan

[richard p]

the volunteer spud in the tunnel was hit monday night, we had nettles blackened as well. about an inch of ice in the bath.which didnt completely thaw during the day.

[PLUMPUDDING]

The trees looked beautiful here too yesterday, but the temperature inside one greenhouse had gone down to -8 C. Good job I hadn't anything important in there.

The rhubarb stems round the outside of the plant have collapsed beyond recovery, but the central stalks have perked up again now it has thawed and are fine.

It will be interesting to see what has happened to some of the borderline-tender shrubs this winter. I've not lost anything to frost for quite a few years now, so I think I've taken more risks leaving things out that years ago would have been lifted and brought inside, or at least insulated with straw and fleece.

It should have killed a few slugs and bugs though.

I went for a walk yesterday and some rocks by the side of the path were covered in tiers of 3ft icicles. They looked so beautiful and it brought back childhood memories of really cold winters.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Alan, the nettles were in one of the gardens i work at, although thinking about it, thats even more embarrassing.

Dear Richard, have you ever considered putting some form of heating in your bathroom.

Dear Plumpudding, talking about childhood memories and icicles, (do you know i don't think i have ever wrote that word down before) anyway, my Mother lives in a thatched cottage, and when i was a boy it used to get giant icicles hanging off the bottom edge of the thatch.
They sometimes would snap off when they got very large what was really quite dangerous thinking back.
But i haven't seen any on there for years now.

[alan refail]

Dear OH

Here are some icicles to revive old memories

[oldherbaceous]

Thanks for that lovely picture Alan, thats just what they used to look like.