Every few years Mother Nature reminds us, we who live in this land unfamiliar with the deaths of winter, not to become complacent in the temperate world we inhabit. We, who are used to our banana trees and ferns flourishing in January as well as June, rarely expect to wake up to a garden in a less than lush state. But, nature is and will ever be impervious to the expectations of mere humans. Our desires are accommodated only by chance if they fit into the whole, grand scheme of this spinning planet with it’s moon-driven tides.

For the last few nights the stars have glittered like distant ice bergs in the clear, cold expanse of sky. I wonder: do they fall to earth while we sleep, transforming into the early morning sparkle of frost in our gardens?
(Cross-posted from Casa de Charlotte Della Luna.)

Sword Fern after frost

Banana Trees after frost