Cover Up, It's Chilly Out

 We did have frost on Wednesday night, enough to turn the roof on the gazebo white and to cover the lawn in patches.  The weatherpeople threw that precaution out there on the news, 'Chance of frost' for Wednesday, but then they really cautioned against it Thursday night with frost warnings instead of chances.  It's just like the game, Deal or No Deal.  Cover up your annuals or leave them nekkid and exposed?  Turns out the worst frost for us was Wednesday (the Chance Night) instead of Thursday (the Sure Thing Night)

Welcome to my latest game for garden tourists, Name That Plant.  Here's the way the game is played:  Guests are given ballots and a pencil and asked to write down what they think is hiding under the Various Colorful Blankets.  Sort of a Let's Make a Deal and hope you don't get zonked.  Well, I guess there's nothing to win for them, but for me there is, because as the plant is revealed (they have to uncover it to find out) they are then saving me the chore. 

Check out that happenin' fabric.  Actually, it makes a pretty flower bed all by itself, doesn't it?  Time for another revelation about what I do with my spare time in the Winter besides stained glass.  I sew.   And yes, the fabric is something I picked out about twenty years ago.  Cut me a break, the fabric was cheap and my tastes have changed.  (A little.)  But the fabric still makes a good frost protection cover.

And so does an old couch coverup/throw thingie.  I sometimes think the things I use to keep the plants alive might actually embarrass them to death instead.  I told you the yard would look like a Rummage Sale Explosion happened. 

We're not through with the tour of my lovely fabrics yet;  over in the front yard we have a huge blue tarp and a hunk of denim in many colors.  The three celosias on the end had to fend for themselves Wednesday night and got nipped some, but pulled through. 

This castor bean sporting one of my old curtains scared the bajeebas out of me this morning when I turned around and found it right behind me.  It looks more like Halloween around here than anything, doesn't it?

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Ernie, alias Casper the Ghost, hiding under his shroud.

 Now that I look at these pictures I guess it reminds me of a big, old house in those creepy movies where the occupants left their furniture behind when they moved (or was it because they were rich folk who owned more than ten houses and didn't need all those pesky chairs and couches?) 

 Last night when I left the dogs out for their potty break, they were both startled by the sight of these 'things' lurking in the driveway.  Well, ok, maybe they were just shocked by my fabric choices from back in the day, but with the moonlight shining on all these blobs, it really looked weird.  Now that I see this one in broad daylight, wow.....I'm blushing for the plants underneath.

In our garage I have the Bargain Corner where you can select slightly used annuals at a discount price. 

OH, and check out the tomatoes, below.  There's a picture you've never seen of my Illustrious Vegetable Patch.  Yep, that's it.  I have over ten acres of land that's not being farmed on which I could plant a vegetable garden to feed an army, and here it is, a 10' x 10' patch filled with exactly 15 tomato plants, 56 onions, and two, yes, two, green peppers.  Ta Da!   Despite how sad this looks, the tomatoes have produced quite well so far, and have loads of green fruit on the vine yet.  I have over a bushel of nearly ripe tomatoes sitting on the front porch ripening in the hopes I can make some more sauce.

Ok, enough Show 'N Tell of my deplorable taste in fabrics.  Let's see what I didn't cover.

Rocks are really good at holding heat.  I'm always amazed too, by how blue the sky usually is after a frost. 

Though it isn't as blue as 'Victoria' salvia or

this little 'Blue Butterfly' delphinium that decided to grace the garden so late in the season.

This picture was taken on Wednesday morning around 10AM.  It is amazing what the changing light conditions do to the looks of the same garden in the late evening.

The shadows are long and the sunlight seems more precious after a frost. 

The flowers I took for granted a few days ago suddenly seem more special.  These moss roses are hovering near the limestone where they find a little bit of warmth.

Moss roses love dry and sandy conditions, so they have claimed the hills around the Quarry as their home, reseeding to their heart's content along with my stands of rudbeckias.  

These are the last of the rudbeckia seedlings to bloom, after this, we're done.

There's a 'Blue Butterfly' again with a pale pink petunia. Here I go again, running off at the camera all over the place with a whole bunch of pictures.  Just go through 'em fast, it will go quicker that way.

 

Under the tarp, stuff survived even though plastic tarps aren't really supposed to be great for frost protection.

Oh, Pachyberm how we'll miss the color.

I had the camera out last night just before sunset, trying to capture more of the sun's fading glory.  Isn't it amazing the difference in the photo of the same flower pot taken in the morning and in the evening?

Grasses abound around here, Karl Foerster, Japanese Silver Grass and one of the pinker miscanthus here and there with clouds drifting off to the north.

More grasses, more rocks, more dwarf conifers.  Scroll faster.

 The castor beans grew so tall that they've made the trail between the house and Pachyberm really narrow.

Castor bean close up.

 Dwarf white pine on the hill is becoming a bit more than dwarf, but that's ok, I love white pines.

 More assorted conifers and grasses and sunset light.

 Hostas hiding in the rocks by the Quarry, trying to stay warm.

The trumpet vine is still going strong, but I'm not sure if the hummingbirds are still here to enjoy it.

 Even though we messed up the Formal Garden, the annuals are still doing their thing.

Loved the striping on the rock from the grass planted next to it.

 

Sunset put an end to my photographic madness. I know I went overboard taking pictures, but I thought Mother Nature was going to freeze everything to death.  So, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Head on over to Fertilizer Friday and see what Tootsie has going on there with beautiful gardens from all over.

(I highly doubt there will be too many ugly plant covers flaunted on other blogs, sorry Tootsie!)