Cold and Frosty Mornings

We've had so much damp, wet and windy days this winter that it's such a pleasure to wake up to a cold and frosty morning once in a while. Those type of mornings that promise a glimpse of the sunshine. We've only had a few, but the garden and plants take on a whole new dimension when they are covered in frost and ice. Plants that have faded long ago look alive again - dead flower heads illuminated with a wintery glow - differing shades as the rising sun catches them as it tries to reach up higher in the sky. 

The lawn turns silver overnight, there's suddenly crunchy grass under your feet, not mud and puddles anymore; the garden teams with new interest and textures - icy ponds and bird baths, patterns in the ice, frosty spider webs...

My sea shell collections are tinged with a fresh and delicate powder of ice - almost looking like the sand where they once lay. Even the patterns on the garden tables are heightened by the ice. My favourite is the palm tree - an ornamental structure always there by the pond, but in the morning frost it stands looking grand, decorated by nature in all its winter glory, more rigid and strong.

I love waking to these mornings in winter.