Killing frost

Temperatures dipped into the 20's for the first time this week. After a long season of foliage, flowers and fruit, the garden looks old and sad. The impatiens, which tried to take over the garden this autumn, now lie limp and flacid on their beds, cowed by the power of cold.

The pentas stand stiffly in place, gray leaves against the stems. These annuals will be dispatched to the compost heap, where they can mingle with oak leaves, heating up, breaking down and later building up the soil for a new season.

Perennials like Saliva Miss Huff and Hosta Francis Williams are still alive, lying underground in a dark and soundless place. When the sun calls to them in the spring, Miss Huff and Frances Williams will live again.