Plants Painted with Frost

A quick walk this morning to the bus stop took us longer than usual. We kept stopping to look at the beauty of the hibernating plants that were painted with beautiful frost. Discussion then continued whether the frost was painted on by Jack Frost (from the movie Rise of the Guardians) or Elsa, the Snow Queen (from the movie Frozen). Both talented and excellent winter figures, but my money is on Mother Nature...

Here are some of the beauties we found:

Thankful for Evergreens!

The temperatures have been downright frigid, the ground frozen solid and everything outside is in a deep hibernation. I know that the days are slowly getting longer and spring will come eventually. But for now, I am so thankful to have the deep green textures of my evergreens to admire out my window.

The needle-like leaves of the cryptomeria trees along the fence are a lovely contrast to the deep green and shiny leaves of the cherry laurels in the foreground.  

The bright morning sun shines on this mixture of evergreens. The variegated green-yellow liriope and deep green ilex provide a lovely frame for the red tipped leaves of nandina behind them.