Frosted echinacea flower.

Frozen Flowers

Posted on by Ann Mackay

On Monday we had the first frost of the year. Up until then, the weather had been mild and wet, so it felt as if it had come suddenly. There were still a few flowers in the garden, lasting much later than you might expect. And, of course, they were caught by the frost.

As you may imagine, this meant that I had a busy morning padding about the frozen garden with camera in hand.

Now that the plants are beginning to die back for winter, there’s not much left to photograph, so the intricate effects of frost give an opportunity that’s too good to miss. I took as many photographs as I could before the sun melted it all away. (And there will be more in later posts…)

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A passionflower bud, caught by the frost.

The echinacea flower (PowWow White) was frozen through, and this has enhanced the green tinge to the ends of the petals. The emerging flowers start off pale green, with a vivid green cone, gradually maturing to a white flower with a golden-yellow cone.

This colour-change makes for more photographic potential. The plant is a new addition to the garden and I’m looking forward to following its progress with my camera during the next year.

Frosted-penstemon-3723
Frosted penstemon ‘Raven’ – hope it can cope with the cold!

The passionflower is ‘Constance Elliot’, which I wrote about here. It was planted just last year and has flowered well during the late summer. The bud seems to have escaped any serious damage from the frost and the plant’s leaves are still firm and healthy-looking, so I reckon it hasn’t come to any harm. Even so, as it gets colder, I’ll protect the base of the plant with either mulch or frost-fleece.

If the winter gets really cold, I may also put fleece around the penstemons. I’ve lost a few of these in cold winters, but some varieties have gone on for years – especially ‘Garnet’, which seems to be hardier than most. (Pictured is ‘Raven’, which came through last year’s fairly mild winter easily. I hope it turns out to be thoroughly hardy too.)

The rose below is a tough old girl who doesn’t let anything bother her…’Zephirine Drouhin’, a rose that is both delightfully scented and thornless. This is probably my favourite plant in the whole garden. I’m glad that she doesn’t mind the frost!

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Rose ‘Zepherine Drouhin’, covered in frost now, but her flowers will perfume the air again next summer.

Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

25 thoughts on “Frozen Flowers”

  2. Looks like two different parts of nature are trying to give each other a challenge of survival .Of course,snow is the winner over delicate flowers,but I loved ‘rose is a tough old girl who doesn’t let anything bother her’.
    Your photographs are amazing 😊😊

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    1. Thank you, Deeksha, your comment made me smile! The rose was in the garden when we arrived years ago and can surprise me with flowers late in the year. In the summer the perfume is lovely to be near… 🙂

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    1. We don’t get a lot of frost – global warming maybe – but I try to make the most of it when we do. And I always hope that there will still be a few flowers and seed-heads around to get frosted…great for photos! 🙂

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    1. Thanks Syd, glad you like them! 🙂 I find that the garden looks quite sad when the leaves have all fallen – it just seems so bare! There’s a winter-flowering viburnum and winter jasmine, so there will be a few little flowers. But I’ll be very glad when spring comes!

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      1. Hi Anne – Right now I am sticking to my inside violets that like the low south sun in the winter. They go crazy. Have to wait until Spring for my yard. Lucky you have some white winter flowers.

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      2. It’s great to have flowers inside at this time of year. I have some cyclamen plants, so they’ll likely be my next photographic project… 🙂

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    1. Looks like the frost hasn’t done any harm – even the passionflower bud looks surprisingly OK. (Doubt it will open though!) The echinacea flowers have had it – but the plant will be fine. 🙂

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    1. Thank you Shelly! Nature has kindly provided some more frost this morning, so there will be more of the frozen garden…brrr! 🙂

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    1. Most don’t but sometimes some carry on (depending how much frost they’ve had) though maybe a bit battered. The echinacea and the roses were completely destroyed once they thawed out – so it was a very brief glory! 🙂

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  11. […] In contrast to these brightly-coloured daisies, I also have an echinacea which has white flowers with centres that start off green and turn yellow. (If I remember correctly, it’s ‘Powwow White’.) It has a very different look to the hot-coloured flowers and suits a softer, more relaxing colour scheme. I photographed this particular flower when it froze last winter – you can see it here: https://annmackay.blog/2019/11/24/frozen-flowers/ […]

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