Sunday Morning Sights

We were out early this morning to take photos of a quilt that I made as a gift for my cousin when I spotted some other interesting things.

A male evening grosbeak was hopping around the yard. He let me get close to photograph him before finally flying away. I've been seeing flocks of them at my feeders, especially in the morning. However, this one was alone.
Also, the frost had formed some interesting crystals on the lacinato kale leaves.
I'll share the photos of the quilt after my cousin's wedding next weekend.

Frost

We've had a frost every night since Saturday (10/9). Last night's was the hardest frost yet. I went out this morning to photograph some of the beauty (and the destruction).

Here's an over view of the garden from the back porch.
Here's the beauty of the frost.
The frost on the kale almost looks like snow.
On the carrots it is like a white outline.
On the brussels sprouts it looks like crystals.
It accentuates the different textures of the weeds.
It is a sugar coating on the marigolds.
Now for the destruction.

The end of zucchini (and the peppers, eggplant and basil too).
And most interestingly, the stems of the marigolds seemed to have been ripped open by the freezing of the water inside them.
This afternoon the marigolds, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, beans, and basil all went to the compost pile. Everything left in the garden is frost hardy to some extent. Before we know it it will be snow covering the garden.

Post Script: Here's the after clean up photo the next morning. I've left some of the sunflowers for vertical interest in the winter garden. You can see some of the rows of winter rye beginning to green up, especially the row in front of the brussels sprouts.