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The early bird... gets very cold trying to photograph flowers in the frost. The weather this past week has been chilly in my neck of the woods, but frost brings its own beauty to our gardens. Frost is an ephemeral beauty that melts with the rising

higher odds on getting a hard frost which, I think, is even more beautiful. Snow blankets and muffles the features in the garden turning all a soft virgin white - even rubbish heaps and messy areas are suddenly transformed into something clean

The weather has been remarkable lately. A fortnight ago we had frosts and chilly winds, then suddenly we had sunshine, showers and the odd thunderstorm.The recent sun and rain have been fantastic for the allotment; everything seems to have leapt

again within a couple of weeks) and stands there as upright as a guardsman all summer, before turning a gorgeous blonde at this time of year.Thirdly, Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal'. A much shorter grass (reaching about 1.2m), it has a fantastic blueish

Hooray - it's officially turning wintry! We've had a couple of good sharp frosts - the kind that make your scalp shrink with the cold, and knock all those leaves that have been hanging onto the trees rather annoyingly off in one fell swoop

the right plant for the right place can be a difficult task, and the reality is that often the site we have is far from ideal.Take the left-hand border in my garden. A beautiful silver birch sits close to the boundary fence, but at about 10m or more

to provide a warm duvet to protect them from frost, but I didn't. Milder winters have been on my side, heavy penetrating frosts haven't struck, and my tubers have survived! Dahlias are so easy to raise from seed, producing plants for just a few pence instead

Just back from a long weekend in the village of Croscombe, in Somerset between Wells and Shepton Mallet, where The Landmark Trust has a fabulous 15th century building (Old Hall) to rent. Like so many holiday lets, the small garden could not really

It's been a chilly week down here. Every morning we've had frost, not to mention snow, sleet and hail, followed by glorious sunshine. I'm not complaining, but this weather has come as a shock after the balmy temperatures of the past fortnight.I can

and everything, and buckets of basil for pasta sauces. I always mean to get round to making my own pesto - it's so simple! - but time slips away and before I know it I'm grabbing what's left of the annuals to try to make the most of them before the frosts finish