Frost Warning

They are calling for our first frost of the year tonight. Of coarse, you never know if it will happen as predicted, or how hard it will be. Plus there is the additional issue of micro-climates. Three sides of the big garden are surrounded by large fir trees. This living buffer quite often protects the garden from lite frosts that will easily kill plants up at the house.

I decided to act as if the freeze was imminent and went down to the garden after work, with scissors and a bucket in hand. First I stopped to admire my marigold row. Although I didn't get these poor seedlings transplanted until the weekend of July 4th, they still produced a nice display.

An close up view of a "Red Metamorph" marigold plant. There was a bit of interesting diversity among the various blooms. A few blooms receded back to solid red.

On this one, only the center of each petal was yellow.

I had a few plants of "Francis's Choice" marigold. These plants were taller than the "Red Metamorph" but produced few blooms.

Next to the marigolds, I planted from seed a double row of "Persian Carpet" zinnias. I have long grown this variety and love it. It has such diverse bloom forms and colors. Cut, they make a really lovely small bouquet.

One of my favorite forms found in the "Persian Carpet" mix. I love this double orange. After cutting the zinnias, I cut a bouquet of dahlia poms and one last bouquet of larger dahlias. I hauled everything back to the house and picked out some vases. Tom-cat's orange coat looks perfect next to the "Persian Carpet" bouquet.